Page:Mexico of the Mexicans.djvu/97

Rh in most countries at the present time, Spain herself not excepted. The elderly women of the peasant class, for example, have not yet renounced the use of their tasteful headgear: a big white bonnet, rather like a nun's, which usually forms a beautiful contrast with the wearer's some-what swarthy face; while be he peon or not, the vaquero still rides abroad with all his old brave display, his sombrero, his vast jingling spurs, his elaborately tinselled clothing. How grand, too, is Mexican scenery! The perpetually snow-capped mountains around Cuernavaca rival Fuji-no-Yama, the falls of Juanacatlan easily surpass Niagara, the Inferniello Canon transcends the Yosemite Valley, the Great Plateau has all the wizardry of the Sahara, while the tropical parts of the land abound in magnificently glowing colours.

But granting these things, says someone—allowing that Mexico embodies such a plentitude of intrinsic incentive to art—what has the country done officially to aid this almost unique incentive? What help and encouragement are afforded by the State to the painter or sculptor? What opportunities are vouchsafed him from year to year of exhibiting his handiwork?

These are interesting and important questions, and it is, therefore, imperative that they should be handled cautiously, in justice to the Mexican Government. It is only very seldom that an official and greatly influential position is held by a man of genuine aesthetic taste, and Mexico has not really been more fortunate in this relation than most other countries, although both Hidalgo and Maximilian appear to have had a personal affection for the arts. Nevertheless, there is alive, and in effective action in Mexico city, what is styled variously El Museo Nacional de Pintura y Escultura, La Escuela Nacional de Belles Artes, and the Academia Nacional de San Carlos—which, as the two latter names indicate, coincide in aim with the Royal Academy in England—striving to set up a definite criterion in art, and offering instruction and guidance to young artists. The