Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Opens Next Week in Los Angeles

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will open its doors to the public on September 22 as a first-of-its-kind institution dedicated to showcasing the tradition of storytelling through images.

Founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, the museum in Exposition Park traces visual storytelling across cultures and centuries from prehistoric cave paintings to illustration, comics, cinema, and murals. The 300,000-square-foot building houses more than 100,000 square feet of gallery space across more than 30 galleries.

The Museum's collection spans a wide range of eras and mediums of visual storytelling from Artemisia Gentileschi and Norman Rockwell to Frida Kahlo, Robert Colescott, Frank Frazetta, and Robert Crumb alongside film materials that include the complete Lucas Archives (1971–2012).

It also features a research library housing extensive general research collections, special collections, rare books, and archives, which will be open to all visitors free of charge. The space comprises a curved, light-filled reading room on the main level and an additional two floors of research materials above.

The general research collections provide context for the themes, art and artists explored across the museum’s galleries, from mythology and fantasy to stories of everyday life and imagined worlds. Reflecting the inherently interdisciplinary nature of narrative art, these holdings encompass art history, illustration, cinema, folklore, anthropology, literature, design, photography, children's literature and popular culture.

The rare books and archives expand this scope with materials dedicated to children’s literature, the history of illustration, graphic arts, underground and political comics, independent publishing, and the creative communities that have shaped alternative visual cultures.

Highlights include:

• works from Kitchen Sink Press, the influential independent publisher known for championing underground comics
• works by artists such as R. Crumb whose groundbreaking illustrations challenged conventions of visual expression and expanded the possibilities of the medium
• a collection of more than 30,000 comic books, with significant depth in comics of the Silver Age

Added to these special collections are select holdings of the Skywalker Ranch Library (formerly the Lucasfilm Research Library) and approximately 3,000 art books donated by actor Steve Martin and his wife Ann Martin. Focused on 19th and 20th century art, this collection includes books and ephemera on Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, Cubism, and contemporary art. The library is also home to more than 2,900 volumes from the personal library of writer and mythologist Joseph Campbell focusing on comparative mythology, psychology, religion, anthropology, ritual and cultural practice, the occult, literature, and the study of civilizations across the globe. 

“The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art was created to honor humanity’s stories and the artists who illustrate them," said George Lucas. "The artists in this collection didn’t just create images, they connected our modern imaginations with our ancient emotions with common beliefs creating community. Their work spans genres, media, and time. They deserve to be in a museum.”