SOCIAL SCIENTIST a symbol of strength and labour. This female figure does not fall behind her male companion with whom she is actually equal in height. The more striking feature is that it is the male figure who is carrying the child in a sling. The sculpture shows how the burden of childbearing and outdoor activity could actually be shared by men and women. It establishes the equal status of childbearing and outdoor activity. The coloured etching "Motherhood" depicts a pregnant mother with two other children. The pregnant woman with bulging belly is seen sitting with legs spread and crossed over each other. One of her hands rests on the floor and with the other, she tightly holds her hair which is being combed by her little daughter. The woman's thrown back head and disarrayed sari which is pulled above the knees, limbs which are thin compared to her large belly and half exposed breasts and her whole posture in general portray the pain botheration of pregnancy, which is a fact despite of the probable pleasures of mothering. Such a portrayal negates the age-old motivated and gender-biased discourse that women take only pride in pregnancy which ought to be adorned, yet hidden. This etching "Motherhood" may be compared with Prodosh Dasgupta's stone sculpture with the same title. The black figure of the pregnant mother consists of a small head and a very large body. Being totally free of facial and other physical details, it does not capture any feeling whatsoever of a pregnant woman. As a result the pregnant body looks like nothing more than an amusing form. Despite the professed interest in and experimentation with new subjects and modes of representation that characterised the art of the nineteen forties, women were still more often perceived as bearers of tradition than as agents of change. Only those artists who were actively involved in changing the existing social structure were able to appreciate the changing status of women along with other signs of progress. In their works, women are depicted in a variety of roles where the images break out of the stereotyped forms attributed to them. False sentimentality was also shed by those artists who lived in close association with the labouring classes. Realism by itself, without political commitment, proved to be insufficient to capture the changing reality of women's lives. NOTES 1. "Shabar opore manush satya, tahar opere nai". ?.. During the period 1933-51. Hundred Years of the University of Calcutta (1857-1957) Centenary Volume.