ART

TURNING PAGES Barbara Grossman’scolorful paintings depict figures in various states of reading — standing up, sitting down, and talking with other people. Her paintings are on view at Bowery Gallery. Through Saturday, Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Bowery Gallery, 530 W. 25th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 646-230-6655, free.

IN THE RING Brooklyn-based artist Charles Miller paints and draws Jewish boxers from the golden era of New York boxing, 1910 to 1940. Athletes in the exhibit “Jewish Boxers” include Jackie “Kid” Berg, aka “The Whitechapel Whirlwind,” Lew Tendler, and Barney Ross. An open run starts tomorrow, Monday–Friday, noon–6 p.m., Think Tank 3, 447 Hudson St., between Morton and Barrow streets, 212-647-8595, free.

DANCE

MODERN MOVES Susan Marshall & Company performs “Cloudless” at Dance Theater Workshop. The program features 18 unrelated “short story” contemporary dances. Through Saturday, February 3, Thursday–Saturday, and Tuesday, January 30, through Saturday, February 3, 7:30 p.m., DTW, 219 W. 19th St., between Seventh and Eighth avenues, 212-924-0077, $25 general, $15 members.

FILM

BACK TO THE ROOTS The third annual Brooklyn Israel Film Festival begins with a screening of Dani Dotan and Dalia Mevorach’s “The Ashkenazim” (2006), a documentary about young Israelis who try to bring their European Ashkenazi roots and traditions to the Middle East. A discussion with the associate editor of the Yiddish Forward, Dr. Itzik Gottesman, follows the screening. Tomorrow, 8 p.m., 236 Kane St., between Court and Clinton streets, Brooklyn, 718-875-1550, $10 a film, $25 for festival pass.

MUSIC

PIPE MUSIC The Great Music at St. Bartholomew’s Church series presents an inaugural organ concert, featuring organist William Trafka, the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony, and the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony. Tonight, 7:30 p.m., St. Bartholomew’s Church, 109 E. 50th St. at Park Avenue, 212-378-0222, free.

SOUL SISTER A former protégé of producer Quincy Jones, singer Tamia performs as part of the “Who’s Next Live Music Series.” The concert series is presented by S.O.B.s in conjunction with local radio station Hot 97 and the video network VH1 Soul. While Tamia might not appear the best fit for a program designed to showcase new artists — her self-titled debut album was released in 1998 — the talented R &B vocalist has yet to reap the fame and accolades of her single-moniker peers, including Brandy, Monica, and Beyoncé. Concertgoers receive a complimentary copy of her new album, “Between Friends.” Tonight, 8 p.m., S.O.B.s, 204 Varick St. at Houston Street, 212-243-4940, $30.

ONE NIGHT ONLY The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents the Hamburg Symphony, which performs Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major, Opus 35 and the Symphony no. 2 in D Major, Opus 73, by Brahms. Conductor Andrey Boreyko leads the orchestra and violinist Robert McDuffie is a featured performer. Friday, 8 p.m., the Met, Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, 1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd Street, 212-535-7710, $50.

PHOTOGRAPHY

TO LIVE AND DIE IN EAST L.A. Photographer Joseph Rodriguez discusses his work as part of an ongoing lecture series presented by the Camera Club of New York. The artist presents two bodies of work: “East Side Stories, Gang Life in East L.A.,” a photo essay that explores the violent lives of Latino gang members in 1990s Los Angeles, and “Flesh Life, Sex in Mexico City,” which depicts a “resexualized and respiritualized country in flux.” Mr. Rodriguez’s often brutally frank work has been featured in National Geographic, GQ, Newsweek, and Der Spiegel, among other publications. Tomorrow, 7 p.m., the School of Visual Arts, Amphitheater, 3rd floor, 209 E. 23rd St., between Second and Third avenues, 212-260-9927, $10 general, $5 for SVA faculty, staff, and students, free for members.

BEFORE COMMENCEMENT The final projects of 13 graduating seniors from the Department of Photography and Imaging at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts are on display. Artists include Alyson Perry, Ryan James MacFarland, and Blaine Davis, who photographed the female members of a middle class family in Dakar, Senegal. Through February 18, Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–7 p.m., Saturday, noon–5 p.m., Tisch School of the Arts, Gulf+Western Gallery and the 8th Floor Gallery, 721 Broadway at Waverly Place, 212-998-1930, free.

POETRY

POETRY IN A POSTMODERN AGE The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church presents Alan Gilbert, who discusses “Another Future: Poetry and Art in a Postmodern Twilight (Wesleyan),” his book of critical writings about how we write and think about poetry and visual art in the wake of postmodernism. A poet who is featured in the book, Roberto Tejada, and a professor of creative writing, Bill Mohr, are featured panelists. Mr. Gilbert addresses such wide-ranging topics and figures as documentary aesthetics, globalization, artist Andreas Gursky, and photographer David LaChapelle. Tonight, 8 p.m., St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery, Poetry Project, 131 E. 10th St. at Second Avenue, 212-674-0910, $8 general, $7 students and seniors, $5 members.

DRINK ME “Possessive Used as Drink (Me): A Lecture on Pronouns in the Form of 15 Sonnets,” is a multimedia performance given by poet Anne Carson. Members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company provide movement, and a video by Sadie Wilcox forms the backdrop for Ms. Carson’s collaborative work. Rashaun Mitchell and Andrea Weber are among featured dancers. Tomorrow, 7 p.m., Housing Works Bookstore Café, 126 Crosby St., between Houston and Prince streets, 212-334-3324, $10.

READINGS

SPEED READ Actors James Naughton, B.D. Wong, and Marian Seldes read from the anthology “New Sudden Fiction: Short-Short Stories from America and Beyond” (Norton), which features pieces from writers including Teolinda Gersão, Sam Shepard, and Tobias Wolff. Tonight, 6:30 p.m., Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95th Street, 212-864-5400, $21–$30.

CIVIL WAR STORIES Novelist E.L. Doctorow reads from and discusses his novel “The March” (Random House), which details General William Tecumseh Sherman’s trek through Georgia and the Carolinas during the Civil War. The reading and discussion is presented as part of the New-York Historical Society’s exhibit “New York Divided: Slavery and the Civil War.” Tomorrow, 6:30 p.m., NYHS, 170 Central Park West at 77th Street, 212-868-4444, $18 general, $12 students, seniors, and educators, $10 members.

A LITERARY READING The Women’s Studio Center presents a reading given by instructors and students of its workshops, who read from recent works of poetry, short fiction, and memoir. Instructors Carol Novack and Katrinka Moore are among featured readers. The center was founded in 1998 on Virginia Woolf’s premise that women artists and writers require a safe and nurturing environment in which to make art. Tomorrow, 8 p.m., Waltz Café, 23-14 Ditmars Boulevard, between 23 and 24 streets, Astoria, Queens, 718-956-8742, $7 food and drink minimum.

TALKS

THE LOOMING TOWER Cooper Union presents “Al Qaeda: Past, Present, and Future,” a talk given by a writer for the New Yorker magazine, Lawrence Wright. The author discusses his assessment of the terrorist organization’s activities and what can be expected of it in the future, and why he believes Osama bin Laden’s talents lie in organization and public relations. Mr. Wright is the author of “The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11” (Knopf). In a review from August 2006, The New York Sun stated that the book made a “strong case” in proving that Ayman al-Zawahiri was the true mastermind behind the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Tonight, 6:30 p.m., Cooper Union, the Great Hall, 7 E. 7th St. at Third Avenue, 212-353-4195, free.

MIDDLE EAST LOCKDOWN New York University’s Center on Law and Security presents “Iraq, Iran, & Beyond,” an all-day conference focused on the current state of affairs in the Middle East. Speakers include a terrorism analyst for CNN, Peter Bergen and a law professor at NYU and an adviser to the Governing Council on the Iraqi constitutional process, Noah Feldman. Today, 9:15 a.m.–4:45 p.m., NYU, Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge, 40 Washington Square South, between MacDougal and Sullivan streets, 212-992-8854, free.

MASTERLY WORKS As part of the exhibit “Spanish Painting from El Greco to Picasso: Time, Truth, and History,” the Guggenheim Museum presents “Velázquez, Zurbarán, and the Spanish Manner,” a lecture by a curator at the Institute of Fine Arts, Jonathan Brown. He discusses how, despite their contrasting styles, Francisco de Zurbarán and Diego Velázquez typify a “Spanish” style of painting that was common during the Renaissance. Tonight, 6:30 p.m., Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Ave. at 89th Street, 212-423-3587, $10 general, $7 students, seniors and members.

NOTES FROM AN ART SCANDAL “Notes and Itineraries” is a lecture delivered by an art critic and contributor to the Village Voice, Kim Levin. Ms. Levin discusses her experience as a critic, the New York gallery scene in the last decades of the 20th century, and her 2006 installation at the Ron Feldman Gallery, “Notes and Itineraries.” The exhibit was a dense survey of the elaborate system she devised to organize ample information about the hundreds of exhibits for which she created art listings during two decades at the Voice. Ms Levin used whatever available gallery promotional material had arrived in her inbox to compile lists of gallery visits, on-site observations, and colorfully coded reactions. The documents became an invaluable archive of the New York Art scene. Tomorrow, 6:30 p.m. Midtown West Art Associates, 580 Eighth Ave., between 38th and 39th streets, 212-354-2999, free with RSVP.

THEATER

NEW JOB Horse Trade and Firecracker productions present “Dirty Girl,” a story about a woman who answers a newspaper advertisement to become an editor of a magazine that features male nudity. The show is directed by Robert McMaster. Through Saturday, Thursday–Saturday, 8 p.m. Kraine Theater, 85 W. 4th St., between Second Avenue and the Bow ery, 212-868-4444, $18 general $15 students and seniors.

THE BIG BREAK A musical adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s “The Great Divorce,” by the Magis Theater Company, follows a husband as a magical giant steals his voice while he reunites with his wife. The play featuring puppets by Ralph Lee, is directed by George Drance. Through Sunday, February 11 Wednesday–Saturday, 8 p.m., Sun day, 7 p.m., Salvation Army’s The atre, 315 W. 47th St., between Eighth and Ninth avenues, 212-686-4444, $25 before January 24th, $30 afterward.

PHOTOGRAPHY

LOOKING GOOD Jean-Paul Goude is best known for his collaborations with his former wife, Grace Jones, a striking musician and model from Jamaica who amassed pop hits in the 1980s. “So Far So Goude,” Mr. Goude’s first exhibit in America, features photographs taken while he was a style director for such brands as Perrier and Chanel. Selections include “Queen of Seoul, Paris” (1994), above. Through Saturday, February 17, Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Hasted Hunt Gallery, 529 W. 20th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 10th floor, 212-627-0006, free.

To submit an event for consideration for the Calendar, please wire the particulars to calendar@nysun.com, placing the date of the event in the subject line.