Imagine someone who, knowing that in the late twentieth century New York was the center of the international art world, comes to look for art in Manhattan’s public spaces. There are some good older works: Gaetano Russo’s Columbus Monument (1891) at Columbus Circle; the lions (1911) by Edward Clark Potter, on the steps of the Public Library; and Alma Mater (1903) by Daniel Chester French at Columbia University, are well situated. I admire Atlas (1936-37) by Lee Lawrie and Rene Chambellan, and Prometheus by Paul Manship (1934), at Rockefeller Center. Including also works in lobbies visible from the street, two paintings, Frank Stella’s Salto nel Mio Sacco (1984) at 599 Lexington Avenue and Roy Lichtenstein’s Mural with Blue Brushstroke (1984-86), at 787 Seventh Avenue, are successful. On the other hand, Tony Smith’s Tau (1965), at Hunter College, Lexington at 68th street, shows what can go wrong when a good artwork is badly installed. Little convincing contemporary public art is found in this visually busy environment. We lack an iconography apart, of course, from advertising imagery.