George Lucas Unveils Long-Awaited Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles

George Lucas is preparing to open one of his most ambitious projects outside filmmaking: a sprawling Los Angeles museum devoted to the art of visual storytelling. After decades of planning and eight years of construction, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is set to open Sept. 22 near the University of Southern California.

“I’m used to doing the impossible,” Lucas said Wednesday. But “this one almost broke my will”.

Lucas Museum Brings Visual Storytelling Under One Roof

The spaceship-shaped museum contains 100,000 square feet of gallery space and brings together an unusually broad collection of paintings, comics, photography, murals, sculpture, costumes and other works.

Artists represented include Norman Rockwell, Judy Baca, Diego Rivera, Banksy and Frida Kahlo. Visitors will also encounter the Cowardly Lion costume from “The Wizard of Oz,” drawings from Asterix and Garfield, and works connected to some of the most recognizable characters in popular culture.

Lucas and his wife and museum co-founder, Mellody Hobson, say the collection is united by storytelling rather than a particular artistic movement or medium.

Narrative art “depicts the myths that anchor us, the stories that we believe in”, Hobson said.

Lucas said images help make those stories feel real, adding that shared narratives can create “a group of people with a common belief system, and that common belief system allows them to work together and not kill each other”.

Ryan Linkof, the museum’s senior curator, described visual storytelling as “the art that surrounds us”, encompassing everything from newspaper photographs and advertisements to book covers, comics, posters, street art and movies.

A Futuristic Landmark Near USC

The museum is divided into two main sections. One contains most of the galleries and two movie theaters, while the other houses the mural collection and a research library.

Its futuristic architecture may immediately remind visitors of “Star Wars,” but architect Ma Yansong has said the building was inspired more by natural forms such as clouds and tree canopies.

Between the sections is a shaded plaza featuring a circular opening, or oculus, designed to give visitors a view of “the sky and the universe”, Yansong said.

The location also carries personal significance for Lucas, who attended USC and began developing his filmmaking career there.

A Museum Decades in the Making

Lucas began collecting art in the 1970s, later combining his collection with Hobson’s. Work toward creating a museum began about two decades ago, according to museum CEO Tracey Bates.

Earlier proposals for San Francisco and Chicago did not move forward. The project eventually broke ground in Los Angeles in 2018.

Hobson said Los Angeles is “where we believe we were always meant to be”.

Bates pointed to the city’s central role in the entertainment industry, saying, “The largest, most popular form of narrative art is cinema. So what better space for it to be than the home of storytelling?”

From Cave Paintings to Comics and Manga

Visitors begin on the ground floor with an overview spanning thousands of years of visual storytelling. An immersive reproduction of cave paintings leads into paintings, mosaics and sculptures depicting narratives from ancient civilizations and the Bible.

The museum’s primary collection focuses largely on the 20th and 21st centuries.

Some galleries are organized around artistic formats. The comics collection includes “Krazy Kat,” “Little Orphan Annie,” “The Adventures of Tintin” and Superman. A children’s literature section includes artwork from “Where the Wild Things Are” and fairy tales, while a manga gallery features Astro Boy and Pikachu.

Other spaces explore themes such as community, childhood and civic life. Works include neighborhood scenes by Ernie Barnes, a Frida Kahlo self-portrait, Margaret Keane’s “Children of Paris” and Picasso’s “Little Girl.”

The civic life section includes photography documenting the 1968 sanitation workers’ strike and artwork by Shepard Fairey and Ernesto Yerena Montejano opposing immigration raids.

Star Wars Is Present, but Not the Main Attraction

Although the institution is not designed as a “Star Wars” museum, Lucas’ best-known film franchise has a presence.

One exhibition examines transportation in the films through vehicle models, production artwork and costumes, while additional references appear throughout the museum.

Other galleries focus on individual artists, including N.C. Wyeth, Jessie Willcox Smith and Maxfield Parrish, as well as genres such as science fiction, fantasy and adventure.

Murals Highlight Los Angeles and the U.S.-Mexico Border

The mural collection includes some of the museum’s largest and most striking works.

A video presentation follows the length of Judith Baca’s mural depicting regional history along the Los Angeles River. Several Banksy works have been removed from their original walls and installed inside the museum.

Another major piece features French artist JR’s “Kikito,” depicting a child peering over the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

The museum has deliberately limited explanatory text beside artworks. Plaques generally provide only the artist, title, date and materials.

Linkof said curators wanted to avoid a “heavily mediated” experience that tells visitors “where to look, how to look, what to think, how to understand and interpret something”.

Visitors seeking additional context can use their phones to scan works and access information about their origins and creators.

Elevating Popular Art to Museum Status

A central goal of the Lucas Museum is to challenge traditional distinctions between fine art and popular illustration.

Bates noted that artists such as Rockwell were historically treated differently from painters displayed in major fine-art institutions.

“Rockwell in his day was not considered an artist, more an advertising illustrator, but actually, the process, the level of depth in those images – he is one of our greatest storytellers,” Bates said.

The collection places works such as John Romita Jr.’s Spider-Man panels within the same institution as a photographic recreation of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Bates said Lucas calls this kind of visual storytelling “the People’s Art”.

After years of setbacks, relocation attempts and construction, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is finally positioned to open its doors in Los Angeles, offering a museum experience built around a simple idea: stories told through images have shaped culture for thousands of years, whether they appear on cathedral ceilings, comic-book pages, movie screens or city walls.

John Irving

John Irving writes for Bjournal, covering news, politics, business, technology, sport, entertainment, and lifestyle. He focuses on clear, reliable reporting and useful information, helping readers stay informed about current events, emerging trends, and stories that matter.