The Big Review: Lucas Museum of Narrative Art ★★★½

The Art Newspaper reviews the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, founded by filmmaker George Lucas, giving it an overall rating of ★★★½ (building ★★★★★; exhibits ★★). A life-size Naboo N-1 Starfighter in the lobby signals Star Wars, but the museum says more than 90% of what’s shown comes from Lucas’s broader collection of illustration, comics, manga, storyboards, and film-related art grouped under the museum’s “narrative art” category. Highlights include original Star Wars artifacts (such as Darth Vader’s armor), a murals section featuring Banksy and JR, and 1980s sketches by Judy Baca for The Great Wall of Los Angeles, acquired under former director Sandra Jackson-Dumont and former chief curator Pilar Tompkins Rivas before 2025 staff cuts left Lucas as acting curator. The figure-eight building by Ma Yansong of Mad Architects is described as a $1 billion project, with notable displays also including children’s-book illustrations by Maurice Sendak, E.H. Shepard, and Arnold Lobel, plus a Georges Méliès drawing for his 1902 film A Trip to the Moon.

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