most important claims upon artistic distinction, in the group of three
portraits and two still-lifes by Columbano. The three portraits are
unusually dignified and psychologically suggestive enough to show that
the painter was not interested in exterior facts alone. The portrait of
the bearded gentleman in the middle is fine, though somewhat academic in
colour. The two little still-lifes wedged in between the larger
portraits are exquisite in every way, and make up for a lot of
superficialities found in this section. All around in this gallery, in
more than a dozen sketches from Spain and Italy, Sousa Lopes shows fine
ability in the handling of paint and great power of observation. All of
these apparently recent things by Senhor Lopes are far more enjoyable
than a huge "Pilgrimage", which, while well painted, is too scattered.
The unity of feeling in the work of Columbano is much more necessary in
a canvas of this size than in a small sketch. (Rembrandt's famous
"Nightwatch" and Velasquez's "Surrender of Breda" illustrate this point
very well.) Malhoa's well-painted interior called "The Native Song" has
more of this desirable feeling of oneness, which may be due to the fact
that it deals with an indoor setting, while de Sousa Lopes' "Pilgrimage"
in the adjoining gallery presents a far more difficult problem in the
reflected and glaring light effect of a southern country. Among the
sculptures of this country Vaz Jor's "Grandmother" is of unusually high
merit and intensely well studied. On the whole there is more academic
training in evidence than originality of expression, but we may expect
good things hereafter from the art of this country, which practically at
no time in the history of art has produced any really great name.



Argentina