New York women strip for Tunick

The photo shoot took place at New York's Grand Central station

Hundreds of women stripped off to take part in the latest nude photo shoot by New York artist Spencer Tunick.

The shoot took place inside New York's Grand Central station in the early hours of Sunday morning.

"I wanted to bring the most beautiful people into the most beautiful building," Tunick told the volunteers.

The participants were photographed in various formations on the station concourse, intended to imitate streets, buildings and cityscapes.

Tunick took the photos from a staircase in the station.

He had been denied permission to use the New York Public Library and the Museum Of Natural History for his latest shoot.

Tunick's photo shoots have caused controversy in New York in the past.

Snowdrift

In January 1996, two of his nude models were arrested while posing on top of a snowdrift in the city, while both Tunick and a model were arrested in 1994 when she posed nude on top of an eight-foot high replica Christmas tree in Manhattan's Rockerfeller Center.

"In the past the New York administration considered the body to be a crime, or pornographic," Tunick said. "I hope this administration considers the vulnerability of the body."

The latest photo shoot is part of Tunick's Naked World project.

In April this year, 500 volunteers took part in a nude photo shoot in London department store Selfridges, while a further 160 people stripped off for a shoot to mark the opening of the capital's Saatchi gallery.

Tunick also carried out the world's largest nude photo shoot in Barcelona in June, with 7,000 volunteers stripping for the camera.