I've just staggered home from a preview of the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, which is scheduled to open to the public on September 22. Within the first 15 minutes I was already weak in the knees, and I still had an hour and 45 minutes to go.
The Lucas collection on display is staggering. It contains major galleries of some of the best work by Maxfield Parrish, Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, Frank Frazetta and many others.
Here are some of my favorites from the Parrish gallery:
This is the main Rockwell gallery, although there are many other examples of Rockwell's work scattered throughout the museum:
The museum owns works by Wyeth, Alphonse Mucha, Leyendecker, and many other famous narrative artists.
 |
| N,C. Wyeth |
Alphonse Mucja
 |
| Leyendecker |
 |
| Frazetta |
 |
| Frazetta |
 |
| Winsor McCay's Little Nemo |
 |
| Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon |
George Lucas made some remarks during the tour. He said that, throughout his career he had worked with talented artists whose work would never end up in a museum as a result of factors totally unrelated to quality. So he resolved to build a platform worthy of the art, one that would cause people to stop and regard this art with the kind of respect that it deserved. The result is the eye-popping, innovative, billion dollar museum soon opening in Los Angeles.
I heartily recommend it to anyone with an interest in this type of art, or any type of art.
Wow.
ReplyDeleteThere was much wondering as to where many of these top-tier works went. Clearly Lucas was making his biggest purchases quietly, conspicuously leaving them off his museum's website too. Though many suspected it was him. Good to see all these great pieces finding a good home where not only will they be well-displayed for the public and given due respect, but also well cared for and, presumably, well-guarded.