Nude Visions – 160 Years of Nude Photography spotlights the genre of nude photography. The Munich City Museum is for the first time presenting 220 original pictures on this theme from its photography collection, spanning the years from 1845 to 2005. In the course of six chapters, a multifaceted cultural history of nude photog­raphy is recounted. Masters from the respective periods are brought together here – starting with photographs from the early 19th century inspired by sculpted and painted images which in turn drew on antique and Renais­sance models of the idealized human body. This period is followed by the Symbolist art of the fin de siècle, in which the nude becomes a mirror of psychic moods and longings. Naturist images come next, segueing into the heroic physical ideal of National Socialism, the dream of the femme fatale, or the Orient as motif for displaying nakedness. Finally, we are treated to the abstract and surrealist experiments of the 20th century, accompanied by diverse scenarios in which the un­dressed body is shown in fashion and lifestyle photography. The male nude is also explored, as an expression of homoerotic emancipation in imagery.

Selection of the photographers featured: Auguste Bellocq, Ruth Bernhardt, Guy Bourdin, Josef Breitenbach, Francis Bruguière, František Drtikol, Frank Eugene, Gertrude Fehr, Franz Fiedler, Hans Feurer, Ulrike Frömel, Vincenzo Galdi, André Gelpke, Heinz Hajek-Halke, Franz Hanfstaengl, Fritz Henle, Martha Hoepffner, Louis Igout, André Kertesz, Germaine Krull, Lehnert & Landrock, Helmut Lederer, Cheyco Leidman, Herbert List, Manassé, Guglielmo Marconi, Will McBride, Pierre Molinier, Eadweard Muybridge, Serge Nazarieff, Floris M. Neusüss, Helmut Newton, Dennis Oppenheim, Guglielmo Plüschow, Gerhard Riebecke, Helmut Roettgen, Franz Roh, Hermann Stamm, Otto Steinert, Bert Stern, Alfred Stieglitz, Sasha Stone, Karel Teige, Juergen Teller, Wilhelm von Gloeden, Gerhard Vormwald, Edward Weston,Clarence White, Willy Zielke