of standards, we are almost obliged to continue our investigations into
the other nations most closely allied with the Latin people, of Southern
Europe and elsewhere. There is much room to believe that in a
contemporaneous art exhibition the Paris influence should make itself
felt in more than one way. Paris, after all, is the Mecca of all art
students, particularly of the foreign Latin countries. The technical
superiority of the French school of painting has for years caused an
influx of foreign students into Paris, who are now giving us, in such
national sections as those of Portugal, Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba, and
the Philippine Islands, the result of this contact. It will easily be
seen that unless a distinct national outlook, based on scenery, climate,
history, and tradition generally, is added to the mere technical
performance, no matter how clever, a national art can hardly develop. So
we find that with all the good intentions in the art of any of the
countries mentioned, very little typical national expression is brought
out. In choice of subject and colour scheme the art of all of these
countries is very much alike.



Portugal

The Portuguese section does not present any great painter such as Spain,
for instance, has produced in Sorolla or Zuloaga, though both seem to be
very much admired by all Latin painters, as well as by some of the
Germanic artists, as a certain canvas of a Dutch lady in the Holland
section will demonstrate.

Nudes are still in vogue, or rather naked women, and probably will be as
long as the sale of strong drink needs to be increased by the kind of