Are the Lucas' Old Masters Any Good?
Installation view with Artemisia Gentileschi's Triumph of Galatea and the shade of the Apollo Belvedere The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is critic-proof. Weekend reservations are sold out through the end of the year, and the place is packed at popular times, as few Los Angeles museums are. Though critics carp, influencers love the place. I can't ever recall seeing so many video reviews for a local cultural institution, and close to 99 percent are enthusiastically positive. What the public is responding to is the Lucas' walk-through archive of comic strips and comic books; magazine and children's book illustration; movie concept art and props; street art. A very small part of that formula is a dash of so-called high art. Much of this is shown in the first-floor gallery titled " The History of Narrative Art: Heroes • Myths • The Sacred." This scandalously juxtaposes Lucas-owned originals with reproductions of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling and paintings by ...
