Lucas Museum to display unseen 'Star Wars' pieces, curator says

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art -- founded by legendary "Star Wars" creator George Lucas and his wife -- will see previously undisplayed items from the hit sci-fi series after it opens later this year, its curator told AFP.

"We are the home of the Lucas Archives, the Lucasfilm production materials," Ryan Linkof said. "So we'll have an exhibition on 'Star Wars' that includes some really special pieces that have never been exhibited before."

More than 1,300 objects will be displayed across 33 galleries covering over 9,200 square meters in the futuristically designed building that will open its doors on September 22.

The museum, spearheaded by the filmmaker and his wife, business executive Mellody Hobson, promises to house some of the objects, artifacts and works Lucas has collected over decades.

The collection includes illustrations by Norman Rockwell, Jessie Willcox Smith and N.C. Wyeth; works by Frida Kahlo, Jacob Lawrence, Charles White and Robert Colescott; and pieces by cartoonists including Winsor McCay, Jack Kirby and Frank Frazetta.

"This is a kind of art that doesn't often have an institutional home -- not a lot of art museums collect or exhibit it," Linkof said. "It will be a series of exhibitions organized around material that is really quite rare."

But the crown jewel, at least for some fans, will be production materials from Lucasfilm.

Linkof said the "incredibly ambitious project," which Lucas has worked on for decades, had faced a series of challenges, including those stemming from the pandemic.

But for the curator, it represents something of a culmination of the acclaimed filmmaker's career.

"Mellody has said before that ... everyone gets two songs. He had his first song that was Star Wars, and the second song is the museum," Linkoff said. "And it really is an offering for the world that will really last."

Lucas, 82, remains actively involved in the project, the curator said.

"As far as I can tell, he's very happy with it," he said.

Last year, Lucas visited Comic-Con's famous Hall H -- the pop culture convention's most important venue -- for the first time, specifically to discuss his museum.

Linkof spoke with AFP on the sidelines of the convention in San Diego this year, before leading a panel about the institution featuring stars including Keke Palmer and DC Comics President Jim Lee.

"I think that if you go to this museum, you will see art that you will recognize and have seen your entire life, through commercials, through comics books, but you will see it in a different way that will hopefully enlighten and inspire you," Lee said.

"This is amazing art, we have it all around us, how lucky are we?"