George Lucas’ art museum has been full of plot twists
After decade of struggle, the filmmaker’s team is about to pick location.
SAN FRANCISCO — George Lucas is no stranger to epic struggles on the big screen, but he didn’t expect one off-camera when it came to his art collection.
For nearly a decade, the filmmaker has tried to build a museum to house an extensive personal collection that includes 40,000 paintings, illustrations and film-related items. But legal entanglements and other complications have thwarted his efforts.
After several false starts, Lucas and his art team say they will decide later this month whether to put the museum in San Francisco or Los Angeles, a strategy that has stirred a California rivalry.
The prize is big, and both cities want it badly.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, as it will be called, promises hundreds of jobs and a high-profile attraction — and it’s essentially free.
The “S t a r Wars” c re ator i s financing the project himself. He plans to spend more than $1 billion to build the museum, endow it and provide a trove of initial artworks valued at over $400 million. Together with Chinese architect Ma Yansong, Lucas has proposed a sleek, futuristic design looks like a cross between the Guggenheim and a galactic starfighter.
The museum’s bold design and concept make clear that the 72-year-old filmmaker sees it as part of his legacy.
The museum will not, as many assume, be a repository for “Star Wars” memorabilia. It will, however, show how Lucas spent some of his filmmaking fortune and that his interest in art extends beyond movies.
An avid collec tor for more than 40 years, Lucas is giving the museum some 10,000 paintings and illustrations that include dozens of Norman Rockwells and works from French impressionist Edgar Degas.
There are illustrations for classic children’s books by Beatrix Potter of “Peter Rabbit” fame and Jean de Brunhoff, who created “Babar.”
The museum gets its pick from some 30,000 film-related pieces including storyboards and costumes from “The Wizard of Oz,” “Casablanca,” and, naturally, “Star Wars.” There’s art from comic books, graphic novels and other popular works that Lucas hopes will attract people who don’t typically visit museums.
In 2010, Lucas first pitched his project to San Francisco and considered a site in the Presidio, but the trust that oversaw the park ultimately rebuffed him. He then took his project to Chicago, his wife’s hometown, but preservationists sued to keep it off the lakefront.
In October, Lucas unveiled similar but competing designs for Los Angeles and San Francisco sites, turning the project into a public competition. It seems to have worked.
Government leaders in both cities have unanimously approved it. Later this month, Lucas is convening the museum’s board to decide between two distinct locations.