A peep into the world of a forgotten artist Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.|Jackson PollockIndira Debi (1909 - 1950) was like the meteor whose short but promising life ended in ashes more than half-a-century ago. But despite her conscious effort to remain anonymous, her works speak for her, loudly, long after she left this world. An ardent art student, she took her first art lessons from nuns at Loreto Convent Shillong. Abanindranath Tagore detected the spark in the young girl’s sketches and encouraged her to pursue her calling, i.e, art. Soon she began taking watercolour lessons from Kshitindranath Majumdar, a prominent member of the Bengal School. She also learnt portrait painting from Atul Bose. Indira Debi was deeply influenced by the mass movements against the British that erupted in various parts of the country during her youth. She worked prolifically between the years 1936-43 and did nearly a hundred watercolours, oils, charcoal drawings and pencil sketches. Despite being an important artist of her time, she preferred to keep her works anonymous and hence most of them do not bear her signature or date. The current exhibition of 70 watercolours, 33 oil paintings and 12 pieces in other media, has been painstakingly compiled from private collections. Event: Exhibition of paintings by Indira Debi When: Till today Where: Jamini Roy Gallery, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani

ART

Till January 9 (except Sundays and public holidays) at CIMA Gallery; 3 pm - 7 pm (Mondays) & 2 pm - 7 pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays): In Search of a Context, an exhibition about the relation of art to its setting of time, place, social and historical moorings. Artworks include paintings, sculptures, drawings, collage, films and video. Featuring works of Manas Acharya, Samir Aich, Rashmi Bagchi Sarkar, Sumitro Basak, Rameshwar Broota, Shreyasi Chatterjee, Swarna Chitrakar, Jogen Chowdhury, Sougata Das, Partha Pratim Deb, Meera Devidayal, Early Bengal School, Anita Gopal, Subodh Gupta, Anup Mondal, Binode Behari Mukherjee, Ravinder G. Reddy, Satyajit Roy, Kingshuk Sarkar, Shakila, Shuvaprasanna, Mayank Kumar Shyam, Arpita Singh, J. Swaminathan, Rabindranath Tagore, Manish Waghdare, Ancient South Indian Sculpture, and Cinematic Installation by Rituparno Ghosh and Mainak Bhaumik. Till December 30 at Jamini Roy Gallery, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani: An exhibition of paintings by Indira Debi (1909 - 1950). Till December 30 at Emami Chisel Art Pvt. Ltd, 687 Anandapur, E.M. Bypass, #40113182; 11 am - 7 pm: Art & Craft Fair. Till December 30 at Ahuja Museum for Arts, 26 Lee Road, #40034974, 22894745; 11:30 am – 7:30 pm: Indian Masters I – an exhibition of painting and sculpture by M.F. Husain, S H Raza, A. Ramachandran, Chintan Upadhyay, Laxma Goud, T Vaikuntam, Yusuf Arakkal, Naynaa Kanodia, Manu Parekh, Satish Gujral, Lalitha Lajmi, Dilip Ranade, Gogi Saroj Pal, C. Jagdish, Badrinaryan, Arpana Caur and Maya Burman from the Museum’s collection. Till December 31 at Chemould, 12F Park Street; 2 pm - 7 pm: An exhibition of paintings by Tarak Das and Pue Majumder. Till December 31 at Aakriti Art Gallery, 12/3A Hungerford Street; #2289 3027/5041; 12 noon - 7 pm: Not so long ago, a sculpture show celebrating the golden jubilee of The Society of Contemporary Artists. Till January 2 at Idiyas Gallery, 15 Dover Road, #65508418; 10.30 am - 6.30 pm: Portals of Perception — an exhibition of paintings by Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Chandrima Ray, Aditya Basak, Sanatan Dinda, Sukanta Das, Subrata Gangopadhyay, Subrata Das, Suhas Roy, Samir Paul, Gourango Beshai, Sibsaday Chaudhuri and others. Till January 3 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 4 pm - 8 pm: Recent works by Sobhan Dutta. Till January 3 at Academy of Fine Arts; 12 noon - 8 pm: 74th Annual All-India Fine Arts Exhibition. Till January 3 at Bose Pacia, Stephens Court, 18 Park Street; 11 am - 7 pm: B-Swarga — new works by Jayanta Roy. Till January 3 at Government College of Arts and Crafts, 28 Jawaharlal Nehru Road: Government College of Arts and Crafts is holding its 145th annual exhibition. Till January 11 (except Tuesday) at The Halo Heritage Art Gallery, 26 Ritchie Road; 3 pm - 8 pm: Colours — an exhibition of paintings by B.R. Panesar, Anita Roychowdhury, Prabir Sen, Krishnendu Chaki, Manas Roy, Dripta Roy, Shomi Banerjee, Malay Das, Subhendu Sarkar and Shubhabrata Nandi. Till January 16 (except Sunday) at 2/1 Hindusthan Road; 11 am - 7 pm: Experimenter presents Freedom is Notional — works of three of South Asia’s leading artists Shilpa Gupta, Bani Abidi and Naeem Mohaiemen. Till January 17 at Bodhi Tree Monastery of Art, 48/44 Swiss Park, #2424 6534; 2 pm - 7 pm: A solo show of Arnab Basu’s works. Till January 31 (except Mondays) at Victorial Memorial Hall; 10 am - 5 pm: Indian Life and Landscape by Western Artists: Paintings and Drawings from the V&A, 1790-1927, hosted by The Victoria Memorial Hall and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

DRAMA

Till December 31: 12th Ganga Jamuna Natya Utsab 2009, organised by Aneek. Today at Purbashree, EZCC, Salt Lake, 6 pm: Dishari (Pune) presents Mudrarakshas (Dir: Subrata Sengupta) and at Madhusudan Mancha, 6.30 pm: Charbak presents Apsara Theater-er Mamla (Dir: Sabyasachi Chakraborty). Till December 31 at Bijon Theatre; 6.30 pm: Shohan presents 7th Desh-Bidesher Natyamela. Today: Anya Theatre, Calcutta will stage Charam Chikitsa (Dir: Bibhas Chakraborty) and Bandel Aarohi presents Jamunadasir Gharkanna (Dir: Ranjan Roy). December 30 - January 3 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Drishyapat hosts Natya Bhavna 09. Today: Pancham Vaidic presents Chandali. December 30 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Sayak presents Dildar. Direction & in lead role: Meghnad Bhattacharya.

PERFORMING ARTS

December 30 at Kala Mandir; 6 pm: Neev (Foundation) presents Call for Humanity — an evening of sarod recital by Debojyoti Bose. Tabla accompaniment: Anindya Chatterjee and Subhankar Banerjee. December 31 at Science City Auditorium; 5.30 pm: Liver Foundation, West Bengal and Sarada Group jointly present Ustad Rashid Khan (vocal) and Ustad Amaan Ali Khan (sarod). Tabla: Subhankar Banerjee. Harmonium: Jyoti Goho. December 31 at Kala Mandir; 6.30 pm: To raise funds for the organisation, Heartfelt Endeavour, a non-profit seeking social service body, presents an evening of songs by Nachiketa and Subhamita. January 1 at Science City Main Auditorium; 5 pm: Harmonika Sangeet Samman will be conferred upon Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, who will present a solo sarod recital, accompanied by Tanmoy Bose on the tabla.

TALK

December 30 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6.15 pm: Swami Sarvabhutananda will speak in English on Mundaka Upanishad. December 30 at Ramakrishna Math, Baranagar; 5.50 pm: Discourse on the Life and Teachings of Srimat Swami Turiyanandaji Maharaj by Swami Aghorananda. December 30 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra, DD-44 Salt Lake; 6 pm: Discourses on Life of Swami Turiyanandaji by Pritindra Krishna Bhattacharya. December 30 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19B Raja Raj Krishna Street; 7 pm: Swami Buddhatmananda will speak in Bengali on Bani O Bichar.

PHOTO EXHIBITION

Till January 2 at Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR; 11 am - 7 pm: Bonjour India presents TV Viewers, an exhibition of photographs taken by French lensman Olivier Culmann that captures the unsettling passivity of TV viewers. Till January 13 (except Sunday) at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place, #2461 3145; 10 am - 7 pm: Return to Eden — an exhibition of photography by Prabir Purkayastha. Curated by Ina Puri.

KIDS’ CORNER

Till December 31 at Starmark, 3 Lord Sinha Road, City Centre (Salt Lake), South City Mall and Mani Square; 11 am - 8 pm: Starmark is holding a kids’ book exhibition.

EXHIBITION

Till December 31 at Artisana, 13 Chowringhee Terrace, #2223 9422; 11 am - 7 pm: Crafts Council of West Bengal presents Burra Din, an exhibition of colonial embroideries, candles, gifts, ceramic potteries, artifacts, jewellery and exclusive handloom sarees. Till December 31 at Halo Heritage, 26 Ritchie Road; 11.30 am - 8 pm: Soumya’s Creation presents an exhibition of its new range of durries and home accessories. Till January 2 at Jain House, 8/1 Esplanade East; 11.30 am - 7 pm: Sujata Sarawgi’s handwoven, printed, surface embroidered sarees — matka, ghicha and tussars. Introducing dupattas from the looms of Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Till January 2 at Finesse, 11/1B New Road, Alipore; 11 am - 7 pm: Tussar Utsav — woven and printed sarees in tussar and matka silk. Till January 2 at 3/90 Chittaranjan Colony, Jadavpur, #2713 1031; 11 am - 7 pm: The Indian Handicraft presents brass showpieces, silk/canvas paintings, diyas, gifts items, greetings cards and wooden furniture. Till January 3 at Milan Mela complex; 2 pm - 8 pm; business visitors (10 am - 1 pm): 23rd Industrial India Trade Fair 2009 organised by BNCCI and Government of West Bengal in association with Indian Trade Promotion Organisation.All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to: Time out, The Telegraph, 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001; Fax: 2234-8244

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

Time out, The Telegraph, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001;
Fax: 2234-8244