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| Norman Rockwell, Elect Casey, 1958. Lucas Museum of Narrative Art |
Norman Rockwell's
Elect Casey was the cover image of the Nov. 8, 1958,
Saturday Evening Post. A recession, an influence-peddling scandal involving Eisenhower's chief of staff, and a backlash against McCarthyism spurred voters to oust Republican incumbents in what the press called a "midterm revolution." Democrats flipped 13 Senate seats, ending up with a 64 to 34 advantage.
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> McCarthyism
The politics are interesting, both then and now. Censoring, blacklisting or marginalizing (or even murdering) people for their opinions has always existed. The Inquisition, King Henry the 8th or the Taliban.
The gatekeepers in the world of art for decades have been similarly affected. For decades, they've been the reverse side of the Pre-Raphaelites.
A group in the 1800s with an oddly overly realistic style ("schlocky?") gives me pause just as an overly abstract one of the past several decades does too.
Starving Artists Sale versus the Emperor's New Clothes.
metmuseum:
In 1848, as revolutions swept continental Europe and an uprising for social reform known as Chartism unsettled Britain, seven rebellious young artists in London formed a secret society with the aim of creating a new British art. They called themselves the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood...indicates the chief source of their inspiration. Disenchanted with contemporary academic painting—most of them were colleagues at the Royal Academy of Art and famously disparaged the Academy’s founding president, Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792), as “Sir Sloshua”—the Brotherhood instead emulated the art of late medieval and early Renaissance Europe until the time of Raphael.
The works of the Pre-Raphaelites met with critical opposition to their pietism, archaizing compositions, intensely sharp focus—which, with an absence of shadows, flattened the depicted forms—and the stark coloration they achieved by painting on a wet white ground.
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LA Polo:
The founders have made it clear that the museum is curated “for the people”. Visitors don’t need to be art experts. They can arrive with different interests, experiences, or perspectives.
Lucas Museum is a glimpse into George’s lifelong passion for collecting art. One of the museum’s most beautiful aspects is that it doesn’t provide lengthy descriptions or context for the artworks. It also doesn’t tell guests where they can find celebrated works of art.
There has been no prescribed way to approach art, and there can never be one in the future. The Lucas Museum does it perfectly well. It makes people believe that they don’t need to know about historical significance or technique. Simply visiting and observing it is an art in itself.
And honestly, we have never believed in the idea of “Art Experts”. People always have different perspectives and ways of experiencing art, and that is what makes art beautiful.
The George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art’s vision is to break down classic hierarchies so that it keeps surprising people and lets them find their own path. George Lucas always had a problem with the mainstream art world’s rigidity in defining what art is and what isn’t.
A painting, sculpture or a historical masterpiece is considered one of the highest forms of artistic expression. Pop culture creations such as comics, illustrations, manga, or street art are often treated as less significant.
Who decides that? Us, people. Why? Because it has always been this way.
And the Lucas Museum breaks this invisible hierarchy. It respects all kinds of art. And beautifully reflects that the value of art doesn’t always lie in the price, historical recognition or reputation of the artists. It is also reflected in the thoughts and emotions: how we see it, feel it and the stories we take away from it.