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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

After years of searching and consideration of locations in L.A. as well as San Francisco and Chicago [bloomberg.com], George Lucas has finally found a home for his $1 billion Museum of Narrative Art [theguardian.com]:

Lucas is to create, at his own huge expense, a museum in Los Angeles [theguardian.com] that not only shows off his collection of art along with relics from his films but makes an argument about art's purpose.

It is to be called the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art [lucasmuseum.org]. In its very name it thus restates the most original thing about Star Wars, that Lucas brought storytelling back to cinema. Can he restore the narrative impulse to modern art – and would that be a good thing?

When he praises narrative in art, Lucas clearly doesn't mean a cathartic performance by Marina Abramović [theguardian.com] or a historically evocative film by William Kentridge [theguardian.com]. His collection of over 10,000 items stresses painters and graphic artists whose work is highly accessible. That master of folksy American scenes Norman Rockwell features among his treasures, as does the brilliant comic book art of Robert Crumb [theguardian.com]. Lucas also collects the work of NC Wyeth [wikipedia.org], who illustrated boy's adventure books with exciting images of derring-do.

Put all this together with his Star Wars memorabilia and you have a museum that is likely to elicit scorn from art world snobs. Tate Modern or MoMA it ain't. Instead, it's an honest personal vision of what art should be like – and Lucas may be vindicated, just as he was when Star Wars entranced the world four decades ago.

It is expected to open by around 2021 [vogue.com]. There is some overlap with the Motion Picture Academy's upcoming museum [hollywoodreporter.com].

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