L'Après-midi d'un faune thumbnail 1
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Not currently on display at the V&A

L'Après-midi d'un faune

Drawing
ca. 1912 (drawn)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Study depicting Nijinsky as Faune in L'Après-midi d'un faune, Diaghilev Ballets Russes. Sketch by Valentine Gross, ca. 1912.

Diaghilev Ballets Russes L'Après-midi d'un faune (Faune), was first premiered in Paris at Théâtre du Châtelet on 29 May 1912, according to Diaghilev and The Golden Age of The Ballets Russes 1909 - 1929, edited by Jane Pritchard, first published by V&A Publishing in 2010.

The sketches are part of the Valentine Gross Archive (THM/165), held by the V&A Department of Theatre and Performance. Valentine Gross Archive contains research material and artwork, including sketches, studies, drawings, pastels and illustrations. Only the artwork materials have been catalogued with museum numbers and given item level descriptions found in the Search the Collections webpage.

Valentine Gross, a.k.a. Valentine Hugo, was a French art student in Paris in the 1910s. She became a ballet enthusiast, illustrator, researcher and painter. Valentine Gross witnessed annual seasons of Diaghilev Ballets Russes in Paris and made preminary sketches during performances and rehearsals between 1909 and 1919. She later worked them up into pencil or coloured drawings of various degrees of finish including illustrations and paintings.

Some of the sketches feature in the book Nijinsky on Stage by Richard Buckle, published in London by Studio Vista in 1971. This study features in the book on page 94. These studies are part of a series of studies in which "the artist has instinctively grasped and tried to convey the angular style of movement in profile which Nijinsky had devised to suggest a frieze coming to life" (Buckle, 92).


Object details

Categories
Object type
Title<i>L'Après-midi d'un faune</i>
Materials and techniques
Pencil on paper
Brief description
Study depicting Nijinsky as Faune in L'Après-midi d'un faune, Diaghilev Ballets Russes. Sketch by Valentine Gross, ca. 1912
Physical description
Sketch of Vaslav Nijinsky as the Faun in the ballet, L'Apres-midi d'un faune, showing the Faun walking from left to right.
Production typeUnique
Credit line
Given by Jean Hugo
Object history
One of a series of drawings made by the artist Valentine Hugo during performances by the Diaghilev Ballets Russes following the premiere of L'Après-midi d'un faune in 1912.
Subject depicted
Literary references
  • <i>L'Après-midi d'un faune</i>
Summary
Study depicting Nijinsky as Faune in L'Après-midi d'un faune, Diaghilev Ballets Russes. Sketch by Valentine Gross, ca. 1912.

Diaghilev Ballets Russes L'Après-midi d'un faune (Faune), was first premiered in Paris at Théâtre du Châtelet on 29 May 1912, according to Diaghilev and The Golden Age of The Ballets Russes 1909 - 1929, edited by Jane Pritchard, first published by V&A Publishing in 2010.

The sketches are part of the Valentine Gross Archive (THM/165), held by the V&A Department of Theatre and Performance. Valentine Gross Archive contains research material and artwork, including sketches, studies, drawings, pastels and illustrations. Only the artwork materials have been catalogued with museum numbers and given item level descriptions found in the Search the Collections webpage.

Valentine Gross, a.k.a. Valentine Hugo, was a French art student in Paris in the 1910s. She became a ballet enthusiast, illustrator, researcher and painter. Valentine Gross witnessed annual seasons of Diaghilev Ballets Russes in Paris and made preminary sketches during performances and rehearsals between 1909 and 1919. She later worked them up into pencil or coloured drawings of various degrees of finish including illustrations and paintings.

Some of the sketches feature in the book Nijinsky on Stage by Richard Buckle, published in London by Studio Vista in 1971. This study features in the book on page 94. These studies are part of a series of studies in which "the artist has instinctively grasped and tried to convey the angular style of movement in profile which Nijinsky had devised to suggest a frieze coming to life" (Buckle, 92).
Associated object
THM/165 (Archive record)
Bibliographic reference
Buckle, Richard. Nijinsky on Stage. London : Studio Vista, 1971. 141p., ill. ISBN 028970202X
Other number
THM/165 - Archive number
Collection
Accession number
S.181-1999

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Record createdSeptember 11, 2000
Record URL
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