Long-Awaited Lucas Museum Opens In LA

EXPOSITION PARK, CA — The long-awaited Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opened to the public Tuesday in Exposition Park, welcoming a sold-out crowd to a collection devoted to visual storytelling that spans centuries and includes works ranging from paintings and photography to comics, murals and artifacts from George Lucas' "Star Wars" films.

Lucas and fellow museum co-founder Mellody Hobson marked the opening Tuesday with museum architect Ma Yansong and Lucas Museum CEO Tracey Bates. More than 100 students from USC, the Los Angeles Technology Center, Otis College of Art and Design and Los Angeles City College were surprised with free tickets to take part in the opening-day program.

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Lucas and Hobson also greeted the first 100 visitors entering the museum.

"I've spent more than fifty years collecting the work of artists who don't always get their due — illustrators, cartoonists, muralists, painters — because I believe their images are as vital as any other art form," Lucas said. "They deserve to be in a museum."

The five-story, 300,000-square-foot museum was founded by Lucas and Hobson and is dedicated to visual storytelling across cultures, centuries and media.

"This is a museum of the `people's art' — the images are illustrations of the beliefs we live with every day, and for that reason, this art belongs to everyone," Hobson said. "From the beginning, George and I have wanted this to be a place where visitors of every background can walk through our galleries and see themselves, and their humanity, reflected back. Today, that vision opens its doors."

The museum's public debut follows an opening-night celebration Saturday hosted by Lucas and Hobson that gave invited guests, including artists, filmmakers and philanthropists, an early look at the museum.

Among those attending were Oprah Winfrey and actor Mark Hamill, who portrayed Luke Skywalker in the "Star Wars" films. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also attended, calling Los Angeles the "storytelling capital of the world."

The museum features more than 100,000 square feet of exhibition space across more than 30 galleries, with its inaugural exhibitions presenting more than 1,300 works from the collection, according to the museum.

"Today marks the culmination of years of work, and the beginning of the Lucas Museum's life as a public institution," Bates said. "We set out to build a place that is both ambitious and accessible — one that welcomes everyone in South Los Angeles and beyond to discover the power of visual storytelling. This is just the beginning."

The museum's collection ranges from paintings, illustrations and photography to comics, children's books, murals and cinema. Artists represented include Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, Frank Frazetta, Diego Rivera, Gordon Parks, Charles Schulz, Robert Crumb and Judith F. Baca.

The inaugural exhibitions trace the history of narrative art, beginning with a first-floor exhibition exploring heroes, myths and sacred imagery across thousands of years, according to the museum.

Other galleries focus on themes including love, family and community, as well as fantasy, romance and adventure. Galleries dedicated to various forms of storytelling feature comic books, manga, graphic novels, photography and murals.

The museum also displays reproductions of works and sites that cannot be moved, including the Sistine Chapel ceiling, ancient cave paintings from Altamira in Spain and the Aztec Sun Stone.

The museum's cinema collection includes the complete Lucas Archives from 1971 to 2012. An inaugural exhibition titled "Star Wars in Motion" features concept designs, props and costumes associated with vehicles from the first six "Star Wars" films, including Luke Skywalker's landspeeder and the first physical build of General Grievous' Wheel Bike.

The building was designed by Yansong of MAD Architects with Stantec.

"The opportunity to design an institution dedicated to the art of visual storytelling was an enormous privilege, especially as MAD's first cultural project in the US," Yansong said. "The design of the Lucas Museum is a metaphor for storytelling and imagination — a space to explore new possibilities. My goal was to create a building that invites curiosity and brings visitors on an emotional journey."

The museum is surrounded by 11 acres of park and gardens designed by landscape architect Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA. The grounds include 10 monumental outdoor sculptures.

The museum also features two 299-seat theaters offering continuous film programs, educational and public programming spaces, a retail store, a research library that is free to the public and Skywalker Grill, a full-service restaurant.

The research library includes more than 30,000 comic books, select holdings from the Skywalker Ranch Library, about 3,000 art books donated by Steve Martin and his wife, Ann Martin, and more than 2,900 volumes from the personal library of writer and mythologist Joseph Campbell, whose work influenced Lucas' creation of "Star Wars," museum officials said.

The museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays through Thursdays, and from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays. Weekend hours will be 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. The museum will be closed Tuesdays.

Admission is $25 for adults and $21 for people 65 and older. Admission is free for children 17 and younger, museum members, active-duty military personnel and LM37 passholders, which are current residents of the 90037 ZIP code.

City News Service