The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art's Inaugural Exhibitions
Our inaugural exhibitions include more than 1,200 objects representing narrative art across time and around the world
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art explores how artists depict the essential myths that help us make sense of the world, giving us shared values and common beliefs, bringing us together as a community, and creating a sense of belonging.
Inaugural exhibitions include more than 1,200 objects representing narrative art across time and around the world. Installed across more than 30 galleries, they occupy approximately 100,000 square feet of gallery space.
Drawn from the Museum’s founding collection, the exhibitions trace the evolution of human culture through storytelling, from ancient sculptures of gods and goddesses to Renaissance paintings to photographs, comics, and modern cinema.
Many exhibitions are organized by theme, focusing on myths about love, family, community, and adventure that connect every generation. These shared stories, told over and over in many forms, bind us together and define our human experience.
Other exhibitions are devoted to individual artists of the 20th century, whose images connected our modern imaginations with ancient emotions and beliefs.
The exhibitions are filled with familiar and recognizable objects and art that’s part of everyday life, creating welcoming spaces that feel warmly human and provide a sense of belonging.
Contemporary vehicles of visual storytelling such as illustration, comics, and graphic stories have not always received the respect they deserve. The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art creates a home for what George Lucas has called “the people’s art.”
Exhibitions include:
Architecture – the innovative designs that inspired the architectural vision of the museum
Benton – selected works of Thomas Hart Benton’s depiction of American life
Children's stories – illustrations of children’s literature by Beatrix Potter, Leo Politi, E.H. Shepard, Jacob Lawerence, and more
Cinema – a selection of production designs, props, and costumes from the Lucas Archives
Everyday Life – a series of galleries dedicated to visual stories about Childhood, Community, Family, Love, Motherhood, Play, School, Sports, and Work, expressing the myths that have both reflected and shaped modern American society
Civic Life – artists’ portrayals of experience in the courthouse, the polling place, the political headquarters, and more
Comics • Graphic Stories – a showcase of the museum’s deep holdings of American and European comics, including works by Mœbius, Marie Severin, Jack Kirby, Alison Bechdel, Jim Lee, Frank Miller, and Rafael Navarro
Manga • Anime – selections from the Museum’s collection of the influential work in Japanese illustration and animation
Frazetta – selected illustrations and book covers by the flamboyant Frank Frazetta
History – paintings, prints, and illustrations telling (and pointedly re-telling) the stories of major historical events
Jessie Willcox Smith – classic scenes by the illustrator of fairy tales and childhood scenes
Murals – large-scale, public works of narrative art by Judith F. Baca, Diego Rivera, and JR
Narrative Forms – a series of galleries highlighting narrative art across genres of Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, and Science Fiction by artists including Julie Bell, Boris Vallejo, Ken Kelly, Georges Méliès, John C. Berkey, and Jeffrey Catherine Jones
Parrish – lush, dreamy visions from the early 20th century by illustrator Maxfield Parrish
Photography – powerful documentary images by Robert Capa, Gordon Parks, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Dorothea Lange, and others
Rockwell – a selection of the Museum’s renowned holdings of works by premier American illustrator Norman Rockwell
Wyeth – book illustrations from the 1910s through the 1940s by the incomparable N.C. Wyeth
Western Stories – myths of the American West, including wagon trains, shoot-outs, frontier towns, and more
About the Collection
George Lucas has been collecting narrative art for more than 50 years. The Lucas Museum’s founding collection represents more than 40,000 works of art by illustrators who include Norman Rockwell, Jessie Willcox Smith, Maxfield Parrish, Kadir Nelson, and Andrew Wyeth; comic artists who include Winsor McCay, George Herriman, Jack Kirby and R. Crumb; muralists who include Judith F. Baca, JR, and Diego Rivera. Pieces by Frida Kahlo, Jacob Lawrence, Charles White and Robert Colescott will also be on display. The museum will show props and costumes from the Lucas Archives, movie posters and documentaries featuring artists and filmmakers.
About Narrative Art
Narrative art is created to tell stories through images. Much of the world’s artistic expression has been motivated by storytelling, transmitting narratives rooted in religion, myth, history, literature, or notable events. Narrative art appears in many forms, from cave drawings and hieroglyphics to paintings, murals, illustrations, comics, and sculpture. Since the 19th century, narrative art has proliferated in photography, magazine and book illustration, film, and digital media, addressing wide audiences and giving new form to the myths and stories that shape beliefs, communicate values, spark the imagination, and create communities. We empower people to engage with artworks through the compelling stories they tell.