creation commonly known as the saloon picture. There is surely nothing
nobler than the truly idealized interpretation of the human figure by
artistic means, but the purposely sensuous nude is becoming rather a
bore. Painting flesh is one of the most difficult of all things,
particularly as to the correct texture, but there ought to be a limit in
the production of such a type of picture as the one by Veloso Salgado in
the Portuguese section.

Here a great variety of subjects is treated, mostly with entirely too
much realism. Photographic truthfulness is not the function of painting,
because, first of all, the medium will not allow it without losing a
certain quality indicating the fact that it is painting; and secondly,
art can only be an approximation anyhow, and it should carry its point
by forceful and convincing suggestion rather than by a tightly rendered
photographic fact. The great pictures are first those of a strong
suggestive quality and, secondly, those possessing a certain something
the artist calls design - meaning thereby a more or less arbitrary
arrangement of form and colour effects which will please the eye. The
idea of design has not struck the Portuguese artist as yet; at least it
is not apparent in the pictures of that section. The technical
excellence of their work is uniform and in some cases very creditable,
particularly in the many small canvases by Senhor de Sousa Lopes, the
art commissioner of his country.

Continuing in the western gallery of the Portuguese section, directly
opposite the nude referred to, an outdoor sewing circle by José Malhoa
arouses interest. The outdoor quality in this canvas is very pronounced,
and the gay enlacement of the luxuriant wistaria with the orange trees
in the distance, together with the multi-coloured ensemble of children,
make for a lovely effect. The middle gallery doubtless holds Portugal's