Lucas Museum unveils inaugural exhibitions curated by George Lucas himself

It volition beryllium much than a “Star Wars” bonanza erstwhile the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens to the nationalist Sept. 22. The highly anticipated $1-billion depository connected Thursday announced astir 20 inaugural exhibitions curated by George Lucas crossed much than 30 galleries — and lone 1 is related to cinema, with a absorption connected “Star Wars” memorabilia, including large-scale conveyance installations, accumulation designs, props and costumes.

The afloat scope of the 1,200-plus objects volition lone beryllium revealed erstwhile guests measurement done the depository doors into much than 100,000 quadrate feet of assemblage abstraction connected the archetypal time of fall.

The futuristic-looking 300,000-square-foot depository successful L.A.’s Exposition Park was designed by Ma Yansong of Mad Architects with enforcement designer Stantec and includes 11 acres of parkland abstraction that widen to the museum’s roof, designed by Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA. Co-founded by Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson, the depository volition rotate the celebrated filmmaker’s immense postulation of communicative art, which contains objects not recovered successful much accepted museums, including manga, comics and children’s tales. The thought is to contiguous the myriad ways images are utilized to archer an endless assortment of stories. Lucas has called his postulation “the people’s art.”

Dorothea Lange, “Migrant Mother,” Nipomo, Calif., 1936. Gelatin metallic print, 18 3/4 x 14 1/2 in.

(Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, PKY.1062)

Exhibitions presently connected platform see a assortment of themed shows specified arsenic 1 connected the architecture of the building; 1 titled “Everyday Life,” dedicated to ocular stories astir “childhood, community, family, love, motherhood, play, school, sports and work”; different titled “Civic Life” featuring “artists’ portrayals of acquisition successful the courthouse, the polling place, the governmental headquarters”; an grounds titled “Narrative Forms” highlighting “narrative creation crossed genres of adventure, fantasy, romance and subject fiction” by artists including Julie Bell, Boris Vallejo, Ken Kelly, Georges Méliès, John C. Berkey and Jeffrey Catherine Jones; and children’s lit illustrations by Beatrix Potter, Leo Politi, E.H. Shepard and Jacob Lawrence.

George Hughes, “Home astatine Last,” screen for the Saturday Evening Post, Sept. 1, 1951. Oil connected board, 30 x 24 in.

(Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, PKY.993. © SEPS by Curtis Licensing)

There volition besides beryllium exhibitions devoted to the enactment of idiosyncratic artists and genres specified arsenic comics and graphic stories from illustrators Mœbius, Marie Severin, Jack Kirby, Alison Bechdel, Jim Lee, Frank Miller and Rafael Navarro; illustrations and publication covers by Frank Frazetta; the enactment of fairy communicative and children’s illustrator Jessie Willcox Smith; the lush creation of Maxfield Parrish; a enactment of enactment by iconic American creator Norman Rockwell; selected works of Thomas Hart Benton; and aboriginal 20th period publication illustrations by N.C. Wyeth.

A quality merchandise astir the inaugural exhibitions noted that they are drawn from the museum’s founding postulation of much than 40,000 works.

“The exhibitions hint the improvement of quality civilization done storytelling, from past sculptures of gods and goddesses to Renaissance paintings to photographs, comics and modern cinema,” the merchandise says. “Many exhibitions are organized by theme, focusing connected myths astir love, family, assemblage and escapade that link each generation. These shared stories, told implicit and implicit successful galore forms, hindrance america unneurotic and specify our quality experience.”

Ernie Barnes, “The Critic’s Corner,” 2007. Acrylic connected canvas, 23 1/2 x 35 3/8 in.

(Matt Kroening / Lucas Museum of Narrative Art)

The roadworthy to the opening of the Lucas Museum has been winding. In 2017, Lucas archetypal announced his determination to physique his depository successful L.A., with operation opening the pursuing year. The gathering was initially scheduled to unfastened successful 2021 — a extremity that was pushed to 2023 owed to COVID-19 pandemic-induced delays. From there, the debut was pushed to 2025, and yet 2026. The depository announced its last opening day past November.

Lucas’ relation astatine his namesake depository has besides not ever been clear, and the museum’s improvement has been marked by a bid of high-profile unit shakeups. The museum’s archetypal manager and main executive, Sandra Jackson-Dumont, stepped down from her relation successful aboriginal 2025 aft little than 5 years. She didn’t talk publically astir her departure but the depository issued a connection that her determination was based connected a “new organizational design” that would divided her occupation into 2 positions, with Lucas liable for contented direction.

Three months later, the depository laid disconnected 15 full-time employees, a fig of whom were from the acquisition and nationalist programming team. Seven part-time, on-call employees were besides eliminated. The layoffs were described to The Times successful harrowing presumption by 2 employees who asked to stay anonymous.

In December — soon aft the depository announced its opening day — quality broke that main curator Pilar Tompkins Rivas had stepped down from her role.

To date, nary caller main curator has been named, but a rep for the depository wrote successful an email that Lucas “is liable for curatorial and contented absorption for the depository and continues to enactment intimately with the curatorial squad connected his decades-long imaginativeness to observe storytelling and communicative art.”