Studio photograph by Elliott & Fry, London, of Vaslav Nijinsky in full costume and make up for Petrouchka, 1913.

Petrouchka was a burlesque ballet in one act and four scenes, with a libretto by Igor Stravinsky and Alexandre Benois, in which three puppets take on lives of their own during the Butterweek (pre-Lenten) fair in St Petersburg. Music was by Stravinsky, choreography by Mikhail Fokine and designs by Benois. It was first performed by Serge Diaghilev’s newly formed Ballets Russes at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, on 13 June 1911. The London performance was at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 4 February 1913. It is likely that this studio photograph, one of a series by Elliott & Fry, was taken in conjunction with that season. The Elliott & Fry studio was at 55-56 Baker Street.

Nijinsky had a terrific success in the title role and this photograph suggests some of the puppet-like movements. Petrouchka wears short checked trousers and a loose belted blouse with ruff-collar, boots and a cap. The mittens disguise his hands and make him appear more helpless. Cyril Beaumont noted that his ‘features were made up a kind of putty colour, presumably a suggestion of wood; his nose was built up to have a thicker base; his eyebrows were painted out and replaced by a wavy line set an inch higher; his lips were compressed together; his eyes seemed devoid of lid and socket and suggested a pair of boot buttons or two blobs of black paint.’