The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (LMNA) finally opened to the public in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park, eight years after construction had began in 2018.
George Lucas, the well-know writer-director of the Star Wars science fiction movie saga, said that he wished to devote an entire museum to illustrators, cartoonists and muralists who are not always viewed as the influential artists that they truly are.
I am no architect, but to my eyes, the double ovals shape of this gigantic 300,000-square-foot building, designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Studio, resembles the infinity symbol, and the structure seems to hover in the air like a spaceship.
You will have to wind your way through the fourth floor interconnected galleries and choose to focus on what speaks to you.
In “Star Wars in Motion” you will find the friendly droids R2-D2 and C-3PO.
Luke Skywalker and his Landspeeder from the first Star Wars (1977) movie retitled The New Hope.
General Grevious‘s Wheel Bike from the animated TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2003), set before Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005), last of the three prequels written and directed by George Lucas
Among the illustrators, I was already familiar with Norman Rockwell, so I paused in front of this sculpture, Triple Self Portrait.
I looked at a black and white study for the color painting Triple Self Portrait, 1960
I was amused by this 2002 take-off by Richard Williams, titled Alfred E. Neuman and Norman Rockwell, replacing the illustrator with the character from MAD magazine.
I was not overly familiar with comic books fantasy and science fiction artist Frank Frazetta, but you can see why George Lucas collected so many of his originals, like Mothman, the cover for High Times, May 1980.
I was not aware of Ernie Barnes so I was pleased to see many of his paintings, like The Critic’s Corner, 2007
Bringing outside views inside the museum through wall-sized windows is also a feature of the Geffen Galleries at LACMA.
Read my article here.
The first floor gallery, titled “The history of Narrative art: Heroes, Myths and the Sacred,” brings to life reproductions of works of arts through centuries from all over the world, like Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel in Rome.
I loved the interior of the Hagia Sophia Mosque in Istanbul that I visited in 1971.
Seeing the wood-paneled library brought back fond memories of when I travelled to Skywalker Ranch in 1988 for press interviews about Tucker, that Francis Coppola directed and George Lucas produced.
See here the article I wrote for CIAK, the Italian film monthly, when I was their Los Angeles correspondent for 1987 to 1994.
At LMNA’s open night Gala, with Francis Coppola, Seven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and many other celebrities in attendance, Queen Latifah noted: “Paris has the Louvre, New York has the Met and now L.A. has the artistic equal.”
See George Lucas with Mellody Hobson, LMNA co-founder.
I will leave to a second article my impressions of LMNA’s fifth floor, displaying a video of the “Great Wall of Los Angeles” murals by Judith Baca, movie posters in a reception room and the garden roof.
When you do buy tickets here to explore LMNA, plan on spending several hours marveling at the many discoveries you will make in this amazing museum.