Comment | What happened to George Lucas’s vision of a museum for ‘the people’?

A commentary in The Art Newspaper questions why Star Wars creator and billionaire collector George Lucas is soliciting public donations and charging admission for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, which is set to open on 22 September. The piece notes the museum’s $25 adult ticket price and tiered annual memberships ranging from $140 (“Access”) to $600 (“Alliance”), despite Lucas and his wife, investment executive Mellody Hobson, having the resources to reduce barriers to entry. It also references reporting that Lucas dismissed museum director Sandra Jackson-Dumont and education staff in a “shocking and chaotic” process close to opening, while continuing development of the figure-eight-shaped, billion-dollar building designed by Ma Yansong of Mad Architects. Critics such as Christopher Knight have called the project a vanity museum centered on Lucas’s collection (including Norman Rockwell and N.C. Wyeth), though the article notes planned or existing holdings by artists including Judy Baca, Robert Colescott, and Frida Kahlo.

Read the full article at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events