Study of the ideal form From Willendorf and Cnidos, from Botticelli to Bronzino, as also in Konark and Khajuraho, the beauty of the unclothed female has evolved through her diverse incarnations in painting and sculpture. Right from classical times, there has always been a mystic blend of the formal and the erotic in the female nude to attract both the male gaze and the serious art viewer. In modern times, however, the nude is a means to express “certain ideas or states of feelings”. In La Venus: The Being and the Body, an exhibition of paintings of the sublime female form by Swagata Bose, the artist has used acrylics and mixed media, recalling the old tradition of representing the naked female in art since the Greeks. The distinctive aspect of her works is that she does not deform or disorient the female body; nor does she care for fine, sensuous modelling of curves. Her model is usually past the prime of youth and is composed in a pictorial gesture of dramatic interplay between light and shade. Nevertheless, her nudes breathe life and are animated by an erotic vitality that engages the viewer’s mind with the power of her personality. Event: A solo exhibition of paintings by Swagata Bose When: Inauguration today at 7 pm; January 6 & 7: 11 am - 8 pm Where: The Art Gallery, ITC Sonar

ART

Till January 8 at CIMA Gallery, Sunny Towers (2nd floor), 43 Ashutosh Chowdhury Avenue, 2485 8717/8509; 2 pm - 7 pm: Ganesh Pyne: His Mahabharata. Till January 8 at Studio 21, 17L Dover Terrace, 2486 6735; 11 am - 7 pm: Tarang: New Wave from Santiniketan. Exhibition of recent works by members of SPAN (Santiniketan Practicing Artists Network). Participating artists: Apu Dasgupta, Atanu Mukherjee, Bimalananda Roy, Deepak Rajbhar, Mahmud Hussain, Md. Sabir Ali, Mrinmoy Debbarma, Naba Kumar Maji, Pradip Kumar Patra, Pushpal Sarkar, Rajendra Kumar Pradhan, Rishav Gandhar Narzary, Sajad Hamdani, Sajal Kaity, Sanatan Saha and Shekhar Baran Karmakar. January 5 - 7 at The Art Gallery, ITC Sonar Calcutta: La Venus: The Being and the Body — a solo art exhibition by Swagata Bose. Opening today at 7 pm. The exhibition will remain open on January 6 & 7 between 11 am and 8 pm. Till January 5 at Gallery Nakshatra, 2/1 Outram Street; 11.30 am - 7.30 pm: Inner Quest — a group show by eminent artists of Bengal. Participants: Aditya Basak, Atin Basak, Ashoke Mullick, Bijon Chowdhury, Bimal Kundu, Chhatrapati Dutta, Diptish Ghosh Dostider, Prakash Karmakar, Partha Bhattacharya, Pradip Maitra, Partha Shaw, Suhas Roy, Samir Aich, Shuvaprasanna, Subrata Gangopadhyay, Sekhar Roy, Sanatan Dinda and Shyamal Mukherjee. Till January 8 at Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani; 11 am - 7 pm: An exhibition of enamel paintings by Susmita Banerjee. Till January 8 at Experimenter, 2/1 Hindusthan Road, 4001 2289 / 2463 0465; 12 noon - 7 pm: Experimenter presents the first ever showing of 2010 Turner Prize nominee, The Otolith Group. Till January 8 at Tejas Gallery, 11 Mayfair Road, 9830049825: A group exhibition of small format artworks. Till January 9 at Taj Bengal; 3 pm - 6 pm: An exhibition of paintings by Ashis Kabasi and Debashis Kabasi. Till January 11 (except Sunday) at Gallery Image Kraft, 56/E, Block D, New Alipore, 32567425; 11 am - 8 pm: An exhibition of paintings by renowned contemporary Bengal painters. Till January 15 (except Sundays) at Galerie 88, 28B Shakespeare Sarani, 2290 2274; 11 am - 7 pm, Monday: 2 pm - 7 pm: An exhibition of recent works by Dipak Banerjee. Till January 16 at ECA Art Walk, South City Mall; 12 noon - 8 pm: An exhibition of the works of young artists from the collection of Aspect Art Gallery. Till January 16 (except Mondays) at Shree Art Gallery, 11 Gurusaday Road, Kusum Apartment, Flat no. 61, 30222040; 3 pm - 7 pm: Paintings by Debabrata Chakraborty, Dipti Chakraborty, Samil Paul, Nitya Kundu, Milanendu Mondal, P.C. Sen, Arun Samaddar, Subrata Das, Pramathesh Chandra, Chandidas Bhattacharya, Ananda Das, Deben Laha, Prabal Roy, Tanmoy Roychowdhury, Aditi Chakraborty Sadhu, Ashis Mondal, Jibon Biswas, Ranadip Das, Khokon Raut, Ramaprasad De and others. Till January 23 at Presidency Court, 55 Gariahat Road; 3 pm - 7 pm: HSBC InvestDirect, in association with Chitrakoot Art Gallery, presents an exhibition of paintings, titled Early Paintings of Bengal in Oil.

CONFERENCE

January 5 & 6 at Science City Auditorium; 10 am - 6 pm: Institute of Engineering & Management, in association with IEEE and Bengal Chamber of Commerce, is organising an international conference on Scientific Paradigm Shift in Information Technology and Management.

DRAMA

January 5 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Aneek presents Lal Ghasey Neel Ghora. Drama: Mikhail Shatrov. Direction: Malay Biswas. January 6 - 11 at Sarat Sadan, Howrah: Dwandwik Natyotsav to mark the 17th death anniversary of dramatist Achintya Chowdhury. On this occasion, renowned theatre personality Manoj Mitra will be honoured with the Achintya Chowdhury Smarak Samman. January 9 at Birendra Mancha, Shyambazar; 6.30 pm: Shohan will stage Helmet, a satiric play written by Rajat Ghosh and directed by Anish Ghosh.

exhibition

Till January 10 at Design, 1st floor, 108 Raja Basanta Roy Road, 2466 4315; 11 am - 7.30 pm: Design’s winter exhibition of bright coloured silks and tussars. January 5 - 9 at 11/7 Selimpur Road, 9339446294; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition on cinema and society featuring film festival tickets, bulletins, prospectus of Pune Film & Television Institute, market price list since 1930, invitation & debate cards of media houses, etc. January 6 & 7 at Nari Seva Sangha, Kaushik Hall; 11 am - 7 pm: Kolkata Boutique organises winter fare of designer saris, salwar syuit, jewellery, woollen garments and home decor. January 7 - 9 at Saroj Nalini Dutt Memorial Association, 23/1 Ballygunge Station Road, 24406852; 11 am - 8 pm: Annual fete along with a collection of different types of saris, garments, clothes for babies, costume jewellery, etc.

pERFORMING ARTS

January 8 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6 pm: Bhavna presents an evening of Tagore songs by Anup Ghoshal, Dipak Rudra, Manoj Murali Nair, Manisha Murali Nair, Sharmila Basu and Srabani Sen. Tickets at hall (11 am - 7 pm) / 24557845. January 8 & 9 at Jogesh Mime Academy, Kalighat Park; 6 pm: Tansen Sangeet Kala Samaj presents a festival of Indian classical music. January 8 at Science City Auditorium; 6.30 pm: Inner Voyage Communication presents a trio concert featuring Hariharan, Rashid Khan and Swapan Chaudhuri.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till January 14 (except Sunday) at Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre, 36C S.P. Mukherjee Road; 2 pm - 8 pm: The Seagull Foundation for the Arts & Tasveer with Bernard J Shapero Rare Books, in association with Ganjam, present One Hundred Vintage Views of India. A selection of early views of the great cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and many others, or the rich cultural heritage as seen in the earliest photographs of Mughal and Hindu archaeological sites. Till January 14 at Earthcare Books and Resource Centre, 10 Middleton Street, 22296551; 11 am - 7 pm: My Kumartuli — an exhibition of photographs by Wera Saether. January 6 - 12 at Academy of Fine Arts, South Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Travelscapes — the second solo exhibition of photographs by Balaram Bose. Opening tomorrow at 5.30 pm.

HORSE SHOW

Till January 8 at Pat Williamson Grounds (centre of Race Course, Maidan); 8 am - 5 pm (lunch break: 1 pm - 2 pm): The 59th Calcutta Horse Show 2010, organised by Fort William Riding & Polo Club.

TALK

January 5 at Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math; 5.30 pm: Swami Shastrajnananda will speak on Vivek Chudamoni. /I> January 5 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6.15 pm: Swami Sarvabhutananda will speak in Bengali on Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita. January 5 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra; 6 pm: Asit Ranjan Saha will speak on Swamijir Vani O Patravali. January 5 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, Abhedananda Memorial Hall; 7 pm: Swami Buddhatmananda will speak on Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita.

WORKSHOP

January 8 & 9 at Hotel Golden Park: A Hypnosis & NLP workshop for self-improvement to be conducted by hypnotist & sports psychologist Pradeep Aggarwal. Learn hypnosis, self-hypnosis, hypnotising others, healing, goal setting, enhance concentration, develop confidence, improve relationships, remove fears and phobias etc. Visit www. pradeepaggarwal.com/kl. To register call - 09963910339 / 9830048800. January 8 at Eudozone, Southern Avenue; 9 am - 11 am: Tips and Analysis of marking scheme of ICSE, ISC 2011 Maths exams by D.K. Bhattacharya, ex-head of department, La Martiniere for Boys. Also, six weeks crash courses for ICSE, ISC 2011 examinations on maths accounts, economics, commerce, English literature & Language starting on January 9,weekly till February 13 by reputed school teachers. See www.eduzoneindia.com. Register at eduzoneindia@gmail.com or call 9830020277, 92306135278. January 10 - 19 at Marudhara, 6 Merlin Park, 24607356: Workshop on Rajasthani painting, Pichawai, to be conducted by Raja Ram Sharma of Udaipur.

GOLDEN JUBILEE

January 6 - 9 at Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, Joka: Celebrating the first IIM golden jubilee with Intaglio 2011, the IIM Calcutta International Business School Meet.

QUIZ

January 9 at IIM Calcutta auditorium: Intaglio Open General Quiz for three-member teams. Registration begins at 9 am. Elimination round will commence at 9.45 am. QM: Gautam Ghosh. No entry fee. All are invited.

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All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to:

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