The Beauty of Nudity exhibition at Łódź's City History Museum features some 140 pieces of work that the exhibition organizers borrowed from both other museums and private collections. The exhibition has work by 65 Polish artists, including Władysław Podkowiński, Leon Wyczółkowski, Józef Pankiewicz, Wojciech Weiss, Tymon Niesiołowski and Jerzy Nowosielski.

The exhibition displays work dating from the end of the 19th century to modern times-"this means from the time that nudes started to become common in Polish art and paintings of nudes more often appeared on drawing-room walls," says Małgorzata Laurentowicz-Granas, the exhibition curator. "The exhibition is not just about nudity per se," Laurentowicz-Granas says. "Art changes nudity into a thing of beauty and aesthetics. Beauty, even though it takes different forms in different eras, always remains the ideal."

On display are works of art whose main theme is nudity, mainly female, either depicted as the single subject or in specific contexts such as in mythological, historical, biblical or allegorical scenes. "I would like the exhibition to be an opportunity for people to rejoice in the beauty of the human body," says Laurentowicz-Granas. "I consciously did not choose work by artists that would depress the viewer, that shows destruction of the body, that lacks beauty, sensuality and sexuality. I do not display work that is obscene or that could be regarded as such."

The exhibition runs until the end of June and is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Maria Sondej