The portrait of the Soviet Union a University art historian paints is radically different from the "evil empire" President Reagan chastised a few years ago and Senator Joe McCarthy feared in the 1950s.

For anyone fascinated by the mystique and curiosities of the nations of Europe, particularly Communist countries, a wealth of amazing tales can be told by professor Anthony Cutler, a professor of Byzantine art and a world-renowned leader of art historians.

Last spring, Cutler visited the Soviet Union at the request of the Soviet government to study an exhibition of Byzantine art. While reviewing art collections, Cutler made observations of Soviet life as well.

The Soviet Union is not truly a union, Cutler said. The individual republics may be clumped together as one massive empire, but each component of the USSR views itself as its own little country and own people. Many of the middle and lower-class have a deep contempt for the government, he said.

Georgia, which Cutler regards as the most pleasant stop in all of his travels, refuses to speak Russian in an act of defiance to the government. The people generally are farmers and are very friendly, he said.

Cutler said Leningrad, on the other hand, was the sourest experience of his many travels. He was there to study the Byzantine collection The Hermitage, which is the largest in the world. While he was there, he went through an ordeal to go anywhere or get anything.

"The trolleys there were despicable. They were unreliable and when they did arrive, I was cramped among up to 210 people, when the trolley was made for just 70. While I stood, the people, especially the older women, would punch and push each other and myself for no reason. The people were very rude," he recalled.

Cutler also noted that the battle between the Americans and Soviets is really more of an economic war than a political one.

"Half of America still believes (the Soviets) want to conquer the world and they can't even run public transportation," he said. "The country is so messed up that there is still ruin from World War II there that the government has not been able to clean up," he said.

Despite the government's attempt to restructure society, the citizens' attitude has not been altered, he said. "There's no way the government could change the peoples' character and motivate them to do anything like world domination. Not only that, but the history of the country is loaded with invasions and takeovers by other countries. The last thing they want to do is jeopardize themselves again," he said, referring to past conflicts such as World War II.

America's perception of the Eastern Bloc countries is wrong, he added. Very few of those countries are America's enemies and most are not truly Communist in the pure definition of the word, he said.

While democracy has its advantages, Communism has its own benefits, Cutler said. In terms of wealth distribution, Communism is more fair than democracy, he added. There is less difference between the rich and the poor, and the countries are much less competitive than the United States, he said.

Cutler was fortunate enough to see glasnost or the new political openness in action, and he has some interesting impressions of it. While he does believe Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev is well-intentioned and earnest in his attempt to restructure the country's economic and governmental system, he does not foresee success because of the peoples' resistance to change.

Glasnost is concerned with theory and abstract thought, and has relevance only for the rich elite of the USSR, Cutler said.

"The average Soviet," he says, "does not notice or care about glasnost." But he did say the effort is important in improving conditions in the country.

America, however, incites a different set of emotions from the professor. He sees the United States as a country revolving around disposability -- the key word in America is "save." The example he gives is of the preoccupation with saving money no matter how small the amount saved.

He cited coupons which tell consumers they can save 50 cents or a dollar if they buy a cheaper second-rate product instead of a more expensive and superior version. To this habit he asks, "What in the world are you going to do with the dollar you saved?"

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If there is one thing you can say about Cutler, it is that he challenges your mind. This may not be the first thing that registers when you greet him in his cramped-yet-cozy second-floor office in the Arts Building, but it will hit you once you strike up a conversation with him.

While you may not necessarily agree with his views, they are sure to keep you listening just to get a taste of his Englishman's wit. He is a man who possesses the ability to make you laugh, as well as ponder life's wonders.

Born in London in 1934 and educated in Byzantine Art at Trinity College in Cambridge, he attributes his enlightenment of the Byzantine style to a professor who he says stimulated his mind and drew him toward it. His credentials have taken him across the globe, including most of Europe, including the Eastern Bloc countries, as well as parts of South America and Africa.

Cutler is bothered by some of the common perceptions of the art world.

"You cannot divide the human experience in units; art, religion, work, and so on -- together they make up the whole of humanity, and they cannot be separated," he said.

Cutler is interested in connecting art to the time it was produced and the statement that it makes about life at that particular period. However, Cutler is bothered by the illusion history gives of artistic periods being rigidly born and ended.

"(Artists) didn't decide, for example, that today they would stop working in one style and begin as new era. The periods heavily overlapped each other," he said.

The Byzantine expert has received a long list of awards and scholarships. From 1952 to 1988, he was awarded 19 different grants and scholarships. In addition, he has taught in Atlanta, Berkeley, Wisconsin and England and is currently a research professor of art history here at Penn State.

Cutler speaks French, German, Italian, and modern Greek. The professor also is able to read both ancient and modern Greek, as well as Latin, French, German, Italian, and some Russian, although he is unable to communicate these languages vocally.

"If you learn one language, you can basically learn another, especially if it is one which is directly related to your native language," he said.