Exhibition of Polish folk art is a cut above rest on paper

Wycinanki: The Art of Polish Paper Cuts, which runs until February 20 at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, brings together 50 examples of the art of paper cutting, which originated as an inexpensive means of decorating rural homes.

Popular from the mid nineteenth century, Wycinanki often depicted everyday rural scenes.

Promoted as an example of non-bourgeois art under communism, the art form was assimilated into the Polish tourist industry as a traditional craft following the administration's collapse. It is now enjoying a resurgence of interest.

The exhibition's curator, Justyna Pyz, said: "This collection of Wycinanki is remarkably diverse and represents a fantastic opportunity to discover a folk art which has flourished and continues to develop in Poland and which influences artists worldwide."

The collection comes from the Horniman Museum collection, part of which was acquired in 1963 from Warsaw's Ethnographic Museum.

It was originally assembled by the Polish Minister of Culture and dates from the late 1950s. Several new works were commissioned by the museum in 2010.