AN IMPORTANT AND RARE AUTOGRAPHED PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPH OF VASLAV NIJINSKY (1890-1950), signed and dated in ink in French by Nijinsky, 'Souvenir de W. Nijinsky, 1916', the photograph depicting a posing Nijinsky in his role in the 'Ballets Russes' production of 'Scheherazade', photographed by Count Jean de Strelecki, and bearing a stamp from the photographer on the verso with the artist`s name and production title, measuring 233 x 181 mm. Overall in good condition with one small pinhole at top and two small pinholes at bottom.

Vaslav Nijinsky was one of the most celebrated dancers of the 20th Century, considered by many to be the most talented male dancer to have ever lived. An icon to the gay community even today, Nijinsky was the lover of the impresario of the 'Ballets Russes,' Sergei Diaghilev, and his performances were highly sexually charged. This photograph was a publicity photograph for the production of 'Scheherazade', and one can see even in the photograph Nijinsky's inherent sensuousness for which he was famous, and which was artfully publicized by Diaghilev. The photographer of this and other publicity photographs for 'Scheherazade' was Count Jean de Strelecki, a fellow Polish artist (Nijinsky`s parents were ethnic Polish) who was born into a family of the Polish military aristocracy. Having studied painting with Leon Bakst, Strelecki was introduced to Sergei Diaghilev by Bakst. As he also made a living as a photographer, he made hundreds of photographs of the 'Ballets Russes' while they were performing in Paris, where he originally resided. Along with Baron Adolph de Meyer, Strelecki supplied photographic publicity portraits for dancers of several productions, most famously for 'Scheherazade'.