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The European Vision of America

December 7, 1975 – February 16, 1976
Ground Floor, Central Gallery, Galleries G-1 through G-7, G-9, G-10, G-12, G-13, G-14, G-15, G-19, Space 33 (15,000 sq. ft.)

Design by Lodewijck van Schoor; cartoon by Lodewijck van Schoor (figures) and Pieter Spierincx (background); woven in Brussels in an undetermined workshop, America, c. 1675/1699, tapestry: undyed wool warp, dyed wool and silk weft, Gift of Lewis Einstein, 1950.6.1

This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Overview: 339 catalogued works included paintings, tapestries, pieces of furniture, small sculpture, engravings, porcelains, maps, and silver and gold works depicting the European view of American life, from the discovery of America to the Statue of Liberty. The exhibition honored the 1976 American Bicentennial. The works were installed thematically, in all exhibition areas on the West Building ground floor. Entrance was from the Seventh Street lobby.

Organization: The show was organized by William S. Talbot of the Cleveland Museum of Art and Irène Bizot of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux de France in Paris, with guest curator Hugh Honour, British writer and art historian. Gaillard Ravenel, George Sexton, Mark Leithauser, and Hugh Honour designed the exhibition for the National Gallery.

Book: The New Golden Land: The European Vision of America from the Discoveries to the Present Time, by Hugh Honour. New York: Pantheon Books, 1975.

Attendance: 100,809

Catalog: The European Vision of America, by Hugh Honour. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1975.

Brochure: The European Vision of America, Notes on the Exhibition, by Helen O. Borowitz. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1975.

Other Venues: Cleveland Museum of Art, April 28–August 8, 1976
Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, September 17, 1976–January 3, 1977