Exhibition Review

As the third millennium began, it was certainly appropriate to reflect on the evolution of utopian visions that, in one form or another, have been a hallmark of Western culture. The product of an unprecedented partnership between the New York Public Library and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris—which earlier mounted a similar but separate exhibition—"Utopia" ranged from ancient cultures to the Internet. Its roughly 550 objects included often priceless books, manuscripts, documents, drawings, prints, maps, photographs, posters, and album covers. Among those objects were the first editions of Thomas More's Utopia (1516) and of other classic utopian works; Thomas Jefferson's handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence; "The Green Globe," the first depiction of the Americas as separate continents; the "Columbus Letter," the published version of Christopher Columbus's report from the New World; Shaker drawings; items from the 1939–1940 and 1964–1965 New York world's fairs; and an original poster for the 1969 rock concert at Woodstock, New York.	1
Politically correct purists may have questioned the propriety of excluding non-Western utopias, but the organizers readily defended themselves: no offense was intended, but there was simply no space for being so inclusive. Indeed, the exhibition completely filled the library's principal display space and had to be continued two floors above.	2
The first edition of Thomas More's Utopia juxtaposes an illustration of the island of Utopia with a sample of its alphabet and its language, all of which add a sense of exotic reality to More's fictional country. Reprint from Thomas More, Libellus vere aureus nec minus salutaris quam festivus de optimo reip[ublicae] statu, deq[ue] noua Insula Vtopia ([Louvain, Belgium, 1516]). Courtesy New York Public Library.   . . .