New Delhi, August 12:

A photographic exhibition of nudes was highly appreciated by art lovers here, especially women, indicating that many more people were now comfortable accepting nudes on their picture frames.

A five-day display of 45 nude studies titled “Skin”, which wrapped up in New Delhi yesterday, brought out connoisseurs mature enough to appreciate the natural artistry of the human body and photographer Sanjib Sen’s creative vision to take it beyond the gross display of female vitals.

The show, set to travel to Kolkata, was curated by art critic and auction analyst Uma Nair. The nudes, captured in various poses and their shapes distorted to give the frames the look of an artist’s canvas, drew responses ranging from surprise and awe to sheer ecstasy, mostly from women, who made up bulk of the viewers and buyers.

Delhi-based photographer Sumiko Nanda, who found the design of the invitation card “very striking”, said it set her thinking. “This show had to be different because human forms are rarely treated with such perspective. I loved the play of light and shade,” said the photographer, who spent almost an hour browsing.

“I think we are gradually coming to accept nude art. It is because people, the art lovers, are now aware of the trends in the West and are developing a new outlook,” she said.

Artist Nirmala Singh was moved to poetry at the exhibition. She compared the frames to “raindrops on barren stones” and felt as if the “flesh was singing a song of its own”.

Archana Ravi, an employee of McCann Erickson, described the monochrome frames as “the misty shadows of clay”. “It is audacity to connect to something that I know nothing about,” the executive said in appreciation of the work.

According to Nair, critics in the West, where nude studies form a separate genre, suggest that there is no right way to present the human body. The language of the nude is one that steps into a broad spectrum of sorts, Nair said.

“By profession, I am an advertising photographer shooting industry and products. This in a way was a deviation from my skills and a return to my college days of line drawing and figure studies,” she said. The inspiration, as the photographer admitted, was the ancient Hindu faith of ‘tantra’ and his wife.