Lucas Museum of Narrative Art announces 18 inaugural exhibitions
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles will open on 22 September with 18 thematic exhibitions curated by founder George Lucas. Revealed on 30 April, the inaugural lineup features over 1,200 objects across 30-plus galleries spanning 100,000 sq. ft. Exhibitions cover media like photography, architecture, and cinema; genres such as manga, anime, and comics; and themes like History, Everyday life (with subsections on Community, Love, Motherhood, Sports), and Narrative forms (adventure, fantasy, romance, sci-fi). Six solo shows highlight American artists Thomas Hart Benton, Frank Frazetta, Jessie Willcox Smith, Maxfield Parrish, Norman Rockwell, and N.C. Wyeth. Medium-specific exhibitions include Murals with works by Diego Rivera, Judith F. Baca, and JR, and Photography featuring Dorothea Lange, Robert Capa, Gordon Parks, and Alfred Eisenstaedt. The museum's collection totals over 40,000 works, including the Separate Cinema Archive and Lucas Archives. Director Sandra Jackson-Dumont left in February 2025; Lucas now leads curatorial programming. In May 2025, 14% of full-time staff were laid off. First announced in 2013, the museum's budget grew from $700m to $1bn. The building by Ma Yansong of Mad Architects is nearly complete, with landscaping by Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA. It is the third major LA art institution opening this year, after LACMA's David Geffen Galleries (4 May) and Dataland by Refik Anadol (20 June).
Key facts
- Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens 22 September in Los Angeles
- 18 thematic exhibitions curated by George Lucas
- Over 1,200 objects across 30+ galleries (100,000 sq. ft.)
- Solo shows for Benton, Frazetta, Smith, Parrish, Rockwell, Wyeth
- Murals exhibition includes Rivera, Baca, JR
- Photography exhibition includes Lange, Capa, Parks, Eisenstaedt
- Collection totals over 40,000 works including Separate Cinema Archive
- Director Sandra Jackson-Dumont left February 2025; 14% staff laid off May 2025
- Budget grew from $700m to $1bn; building by Ma Yansong (Mad Architects)
- Third major LA art opening in 2026 after LACMA and Dataland
Entities
Artists
- George Lucas
- Mellody Hobson
- Thomas Hart Benton
- Frank Frazetta
- Jessie Willcox Smith
- Maxfield Parrish
- Norman Rockwell
- N.C. Wyeth
- Diego Rivera
- Judith F. Baca
- JR
- Dorothea Lange
- Robert Capa
- Gordon Parks
- Alfred Eisenstaedt
- Ma Yansong
- Mia Lehrer
- Refik Anadol
- Andrew Wyeth
- E.H. Shepard
- Beatrix Potter
- Jacob Lawrence
- Jack Kirby
- Frank Miller
- Mœbius
- Alison Bechdel
- Judy Baca
- Sandra Jackson-Dumont
- Pilar Tompkins Rivas
- Leo Politi
- Ernie Barnes
- Rafael Navarro
- Andrew Dalton
- Tim Brinkhof
- Maximilíano Durón
- Jessica Gelt
- Christian Thorsberg
- Frida Kahlo
- Kadir Nelson
- Chris Ware
- R. Crumb
- Henri Cartier-Bresson
- Nenette Luarca-Shoaf
- Niccolò Lucarelli
- Jessie Wilcox Smith
- Robert Colescott
- Scott Rogers
- Stevan Dohanos
- George Herriman
- Roland Barthes
- Caleb Deschanel
- Stella McCartney
- Lewis Hamilton
- Michael Siegel
- Steve Martin
- Oprah Winfrey
- Nancy Pelosi
- Christopher Knight
- Charles White
- Maurice Sendak
- Otobong Nkanga
- Joëlle Tuerlinckx
- Banu Cennetoğlu
- Ruby Tandoh
- Jonathan Nunn
Institutions
- Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
- Mad Architects
- Studio-MLA
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art
- David Geffen Galleries
- Dataland
- MAD Architects
- Comic-Con
- Artnet News
- Associated Press
- ArtNet
- Art News
- Los Angeles Times
- Saturday Evening Post
- Outing magazine
- Harper's
- Scribner's
- Good Housekeeping
- Hathaway Dinwiddie
- Separate Cinema Archive
- Artribune
- Ariel Investments
- 18th Street Arts Center
- UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
- Claremont Museum of Art
- Vincent Price Art Museum
- East Los Angeles College
- Stantec
- Lucasfilm
- Disney
- Starbucks
- USC
- California African American Museum
- USC Fisher Museum of Art
- California Science Center
- Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center
- Friends of the Parks
- Presidio Trust
- Vogue
- Design Museum Gent
- Carmody Groarke
- ATAMA
- RE-ST architecten
- KANAL–Centre Pompidou
- Centre Pompidou
- London Museum
- Stanton Williams
- Asif Khan
- Julian Harrap
Locations
- Los Angeles
- United States
- Exposition Park
- San Francisco
- Chicago
- Marin County
- San Diego
- Northerly Island
- Lake Michigan
- California
- Santa Monica
- USC
- Presidio
- Treasure Island
- Altamira
- Spain
- Vatican
- Sistine Chapel
- Northern California
- Bay Area
- Ghent
- Belgium
- Brussels
- London
- United Kingdom
- Smithfield Market
- Barbican