It’s finally here: The Lucas Museum!

It’s finally here: The Lucas Museum!

Last weekend I attended a special preview of The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art – an extraordinary and thrilling experience, and an absolute must for both moviegoers and those who love illustration.

Photo of the Lucas Museum by Patrick Price of AD Magazine. This is the only photo I’m sharing in this post, as I don’t want to hinder anyone from going to see the collection in person.

The museum is a passion project that has consumed George Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson, for the better part of twenty years. Earlier attempts to construct it both in Chicago and The Presidio were refused. Even the museum’s eventual Los Angeles location, in Exposition Park and just a short walk from the Natural History Museum, was met with significant resistance and controversy.

The reasons for that, I’m convinced, largely mirror the elitist attitudes of critics and artists who are all too eager to dismiss illustration as being either too commercial or kitsch. It’s a contentious view even I’ve had to answer to in making my Richard Amsel documentary.

Here are some real questions and comments I’ve heard from people over the years about my project: Why do you care so much? / Why pour so much of your life and livelihood into telling a story that doesn’t sound very interesting? / Why not focus on someone more important, whose work really matters?

To naysayers, I say this: I care so much because it matters to ME. And at the end of the day, I’M the one I’m making this movie for, critics or audiences be damned...

But make no mistake. Richard Amsel was a very, very interesting, fascinating man, and if you think his work was kitsch, impersonal, or commercial – well, so what? If we take pleasure or joy from someone’s art, if we see beauty and craftsmanship in it, or it touches us in some emotional way, why dismiss it as being unworthy? Should we love it any less?

During the museum’s opening reception, George Lucas made a comment that really spoke to me: “Is it fine art? No, it’s finer art.”

And here is the rub career illustrators have faced. Fine artists, free from the dictates of commercial art, are often celebrated for defying convention; their work can be abstract, baffling, even confounding, self-indulgent, vulgar and impulsive. Illustrators, however, have clear parameters to meet with every job, often requiring visual clarity, appealing aesthetics, and – yes – great technical skill.

To be an artist, you simply have to create, but to succeed as an illustrator, you have to be good.

My hat’s off to Mr. Lucas and Ms. Hobson. They’ve given Los Angeles the best, biggest gift it’s had in a long, long time. I for one can't wait to go back, and go back often.

Some personal comments about the museum, based on my first experience...

Recommendations:

Go as early in the day as you can. My timed ticket was for 2:30 pm (the best I could get), and I wasn’t able to see everything I intended to. There was a library and an entire top floor section that I missed. The museum is huge, and requires time and patience as such.

Go during good weather. If the futuristic, spaceship-like structure isn’t sprawling enough, there’s much to see throughout the surrounding, beautifully manicured campus. A rainy day (like the one I had) puts a literal damper on walking around.

Be patient. This thing is likely to draw massive crowds for a while, so expect lines at the gift shop, the café, and even the elevator. (Don’t even think about going to the top-floor restaurant unless you’ve booked a reservation well in advance.) Parking was also challenging; we drove through the whole garage at first, only to end up back outside and had to drive inside again.

Wear comfortable shoes. It was a bit of a walk from the parking structure to the museum entrance, and there’s a lot of ground to cover within the galleries.

Smart phones are essential, so have them fully charged. It’s also wise to have someone tech savy in your group. Entrance tickets involve rotating QR codes, so you’ll need to show them on your phones. (Printing them out in advance will be for naught.)

Some caveats:

There are no printed maps offered within the museum, so you’ll again need to rely on digital QR codes to understand the overall layout. (I understand the desire to keep the museum as “green friendly” as possible, but this takes some getting used to.)

Most galleries here are organized by only broad, generic themes – from adventure to science fiction, history to fantasy, etc. Within them is something of a smorgasbord of all different types of art, including sculptures, movie props, and assortments of paintings and drawings. Only a handful of sections (such as one breathtaking area showcasing the works of Maxfield Parrish) are dedicated to individual artists. Star Wars fans, of course, will have plenty to savor, that’s fortunately easy to find.

Yet the museum doesn’t offer any biographical information on the artists, nor do the didactic placards offer any narrative context about the works themselves. It also currently lacks an official dedicated tour or audio guide that could offer more insight into each piece.

Perhaps these options might be available in the future. I certainly hope so. It’s a new museum, after all, one that’s unprecedented in scope, layout and ambition. So like the Jedi of old, I must learn patience.

With so many riches to look at, however, I just fear that those uninitiated to the importance and history of narrative art won’t be given more to think about than the art on the wall.   

About The Lucas Museum Of Narrative Art

Opening in September 2026, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is dedicated to illustrated storytelling. Founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, the museum’s collection features works by artists including Norman Rockwell, Kadir Nelson, Jessie Willcox Smith, N. C. Wyeth, Beatrix Potter, Judith F. Baca, Frida Kahlo, and Maxfield Parrish; as well as comic art legends such as Winsor McCay, Jack Kirby, Frank Frazetta, Alison Bechdel, Chris Ware, and R. Crumb; and photographers Gordon Parks, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Dorothea Lange. The Museum also houses the Lucas Archives, containing models, props, concept art, and costumes from Lucas’s filmmaking career.

Designed by Ma Yansong of MAD with a landscape by Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA, the Museum is in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, on an 11-acre campus that includes new green space and a 300,000-square-foot building with galleries, two theaters, a library, restaurant, café, retail store, and community spaces.