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SAN DIEGO – George Lucas has amassed 50 years of cool stuff, and now he’s going to have a place to put it. Even better, you can see it, too.
Original sketches, paintings and assorted illustrations from the “Star Wars” creator’s personal collection – plus quite a bit representing that galaxy far, far away − will be on display at the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. The building is under construction in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park, will open in 2026, and is dedicated to “cultural fantasy,” Lucas said.
The Hollywood icon was joined on Sunday, July 27, at a Comic-Con panel about the museum by “Star Wars” illustrator and production designer Doug Chiang, Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, and moderator Queen Latifah. It was Lucas’ first time at Comic-Con in his legendary career, earning a standing ovation from the 6,500 faithful in Hall H. But instead of waxing nostalgic about “Star Wars” and his movies, Lucas previewed the creation of his passion project.
A video narrated by Samuel L. Jackson took the crowd on a tour of what will be in the space, from an exhibit on myths through the ages to displays featuring artists like Norman Rockwell, Frank Frazetta, Jack Kirby and R. Crumb. Some of the works in the museum include the first Flash Gordon character drawing from 1934 (“You can see all the smudges,” Latifah noted), original “Peanuts” sketches from the 1950s and ‘60s, and an original drawing of the “Iron Man” No. 1 cover from 1968.
“Star Wars” fans will find plenty to love, too, including actual vehicles like a Naboo starfighter from Lucas’ prequel movies and speeder bikes from “Return of the Jedi.” And here’s another fun fact: The museum architecture contains no right angles, only curves.
Lucas, 81, has collected 40,000 pieces of art in the past five decades. “It occurred to me: What am I going to do with it all?” he said. “I’m not going to sell it. I could never do that. It’s not what art is.”
He called the museum a “temple to the people’s art” and discussed that art is “a personal thing” to us, “not how much it cost or what celebrity did it or whatever. And I don’t think it’s anything that anybody else can tell you, ‘That’s art, that’s not art.’ It doesn’t work that way. If you have an emotional connection, then it’s art.
“I’ve discovered just from my experience of making movies and things that other people’s opinions don’t mean much.”
Del Toro, a board member for the Lucas museum, appreciates “the pieces we have that celebrate freedom from anarchy,” he said. “Comics were the first one to punch Nazis before movies.” And with art, “we’re not eternal. But what we hold and cherish is.” The recent fires made del Toro worry a little about his own large collection. “I draw the line at three houses full of stuff,” he said with a laugh. “Now that this museum exists, maybe some of it goes there.”
And the Lucas museum very much reflects the man whose name is on it, said Chiang, whose own work will be on display. “George leads from the heart, and this museum is him. My hope is that it will inspire the next Norman Rockwell or Frank Frazetta.”
