A New Exhibition Will Celebrate 50 Years Of “Dungeons & Dragons” Artwork

The 2024 edition of Lucca Comics & Games is gearing up to captivate visitors with “Gateway to Adventure: 50 Years of D&D Art”, an exhibition celebrating half a century of Dungeons & Dragons artwork. Hosted at the prestigious Chiesa dei Servi from October 26 to November 3, the exhibition will showcase over 100 original masterpieces by the artists who shaped this beloved role-playing game.

Lucca Comics & Games is an annual comic book and gaming convention held in Lucca, Italy. Now in its 58th year, it is Europe’s largest comic book festival and second in the world to Japan’s Comiket. Under the leadership of Emanuele Vietina, this year’s edition promises an unforgettable experience with hundreds of events, including tournaments, game sessions, exhibitions, concerts, and fashion shows, featuring distinguished guests from Italy and abroad.

“Gateway to Adventure” offers a unique opportunity to delve into the art that has shaped Dungeons & Dragons and influenced countless artists and gamers. To commemorate the game’s 50-year legacy, the city of Lucca will honour the game’s creators, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, along with the late artist Keith Parkinson, by renaming one of the historic dungeon-like ramparts exits, the San Paolino bastion.

But the excitement doesn’t end there! The exhibition will also feature works from the Koder Collection, the world’s most comprehensive collection of Dungeons & Dragons and fantasy games artworks, curated over two decades. The collection includes original pieces, both published artworks and conceptual sketches, aiming to preserve and eventually establish an institution to make them accessible to the public, highlighting their impact on popular culture.

“Art has had such a huge impact on the way people view and see fantasy and how the genre has developed through games and literature,” says Matthew Koder, owner of the collection. “The works of art were fragmented and dispersed; they had to be collected so that people could appreciate them in their historical context.”

Visitors will marvel at memorabilia from renowned artists like Todd Lockwood, Tim Hildebrandt, Brom, Wayne Reynolds, Robh Ruppel, and Rick Berry. They will journey from the images of the earliest versions of the game to the most recent, including significant works by the “Four Horsemen” of D&D art: Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, Clyde Caldwell, and Keith Parkinson.

These artists are celebrated for their profound influence on the visual style of Dungeons & Dragons in the 1980s and 1990s. Jeff Easley is known for his dynamic, bold compositions; Larry Elmore for his realistic, detailed depictions of fantasy scenes; Clyde Caldwell for his striking use of colour and dramatic lighting; and Keith Parkinson for his atmospheric, evocative illustrations, each bringing a unique touch to the game’s aesthetic that continues to inspire today.

“Gateway to Adventure” is curated by Jon Peterson, a leading historian of role-playing and wargaming, and Dr Jessica Lee Patterson, an art historian who has been cataloguing and researching the Koder Collection since 2022. Peterson, known for his works Playing at the World and The Elusive Shift, and Patterson, with her expertise in role-playing visual culture and fantasy literature, promise to deliver an insightful and comprehensive experience. Adding to the excitement, Jeremy Crawford, lead rules designer of Dungeons & Dragons, will attend the event to discuss the game’s present and future.

For those heading to Lucca this October, don’t miss this extraordinary convergence of art, history, and adventure at one of the world’s premier pop culture festivals. For more information, subscribe to the Lucca Comics & Games newsletter.

Words by Khushboo Malhotra

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