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The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, founded by "Star Wars" creator George Lucas and his wife, businesswoman Mellody Hobson, will display previously unseen items from the sci-fi franchise when it opens in Los Angeles's Exposition Park this year, its curator said.
"We are the home of the Lucas Archives, the Lucasfilm production materials," curator Ryan Linkof said, adding that the museum will host a "Star Wars" exhibition featuring pieces never before shown to the public.
More than 1,300 objects will be displayed across 33 galleries covering over 9,200 square meters in the museum, which is scheduled to open on Sept. 22.
The collection also includes illustrations by Norman Rockwell, Jessie Willcox Smith, and N.C. Wyeth, alongside works by Frida Kahlo, Jacob Lawrence, Charles White, and Robert Colescott, and pieces from cartoonists including Winsor McCay, Jack Kirby, and Frank Frazetta.
"This is a kind of art that doesn't often have an institutional home," Linkof said, noting that few art museums collect or exhibit this category of work. The Lucasfilm production materials, he said, are expected to draw particular interest from fans.
Linkof described the museum as an "incredibly ambitious project" that Lucas has worked on for decades, facing a series of challenges including delays linked to the pandemic. For the curator, the museum represents a culmination of the filmmaker's career, following the creation of the "Star Wars" franchise itself.
Lucas, 82, remains actively involved in planning the institution, according to Linkof, who said the filmmaker appears satisfied with its progress.
Last year, Lucas made his first appearance in Hall H, the largest venue at Comic-Con International, the pop culture convention held annually in San Diego, to discuss the museum.
Linkof spoke to AFP on the sidelines of this year's Comic-Con before moderating a panel on the institution featuring actress Keke Palmer and DC Comics President Jim Lee.
Lee said visitors would recognize much of the art on display from decades of exposure through commercials and comic books, but would encounter it presented in a new context at the museum.
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