Art: Arcadian Vision

So far, the Bicentennial's art exhibitions have tended to be worthy but familiar: they offer much detail but tell us little that is new. However, a show of a different kind opened last week at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. It contains no works of American art. Its title is "The European Vision of America," and its aim is to emulate Tocqueville: "To tell us," the catalogue announces, "what Europeans saw here and what they felt and thought about matters which, traditionally, have been the preserve of American opinion."

So, at the prompting of the Cleveland Museum (where the show...

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