Artist rendering of the Lucas Museum of Narrative at Exposition Park. Image courtesy of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Media Room.
The new non-profit museum, fully funded by the George Lucas family, will feature a striking new architectural design housing graphic collections, films and other exhibitions focused on visual storytelling. The museum will present original work by notable emerging artists, creations from digital technologies, and film screenings in state-of-the-art theaters. The facility is designed by Ma Yansong, an award-winning architect with MAD Architects.
The museum’s collection includes a gift of collected works from George Lucas including paintings by Edgar Degas, Winslow Homer and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It will include original illustrations, children’s art, comic art and photography from a variety of periods and cultures. Among these are works by Norman Rockwell, Maxfield Parrish, and N.C. Wyeth. The collection will include art work from cinematic design and production.
The museum will provide public lectures and classes for all age groups, workshops, after-school programs and camps, and other educational opportunities.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, originally called the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum, was first proposed to be built in San Francisco. However, in 2014, after four years of negotiation in that city, Lucas decided instead to open the museum in Chicago. Yet, despite the open arms of then Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, efforts to finalize the museum site on Chicago’s lakeshore was met with persistent opposition from some in Chicago’s media and from Chicago preservationists. In 2016, Lucas withdrew his plans to open the museum in Chicago and announced consideration of Los Angeles and (again) San Francisco as host cities. In January 2017, he announced that the museum would be built in Exposition Park next to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and near his alma mater, the University of Southern California. The $1 billion project, currently under construction on former Parking Lots 2 and 3 along Vermont Avenue, would also include renovations to areas adjacent to the museum.
Artist rendering of the Lucas Museum of Narrative at Exposition Park. Image courtesy of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Media Room.
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Exposition Park
Los Angeles, CA 90007
Map of portion of Exposition Park, showing location of Lucas Museum of Narrative (on left). Map from Exposition Park, State of California.
