American art takes the stage at the Louvre PARIS (AP) - American tourists fill the galleries of the Louvre Museum, yet American art is surprisingly scarce. Paris' premier museum and leading U.S. art institutions are seeking to change that with an exhibit tracing the birth of American landscape painting and its influences. "New Frontier: American Art Enters the Louvre" focuses on Thomas Cole, a pioneer of the Hudson River School of American landscape painters of the 19th century. Louvre director Henri Loyrette said, "As soon as I arrived at the Louvre, I noticed that American art was not displayed at the level it merits." The other partners in the exhibit are Atlanta's High Museum of Art, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas, and Chicago's Terra Foundation for American Art. The exhibit opened Saturday and runs through April 16.