Designs for Njinsky Boxed Notecards

by Pomegranate

Vaslav Nijinsky (Russian, 1890–1950) is widely considered the greatest male dancer of the twentieth century. A star of Russia’s Imperial Ballet School while still in his teens, he came to Paris in 1909 to perform with Sergei Diaghilev’s famed Ballets Russes. George Barbier (French, 1882–1932) was one of the most famous commercial artists of the Art Deco era, contributing illustrations to popular Parisian fashion magazines such as Journal des dames et des modes and Gazette du bon ton. When Nijinsky began performing with Ballets Russes, Barbier became an immediate fan. In 1913 he published the limited-edition album Dessins sur les danses de Vaslav Nijinsky (Designs on the Dances of Vaslav Nijinsky), which included twelve pochoir prints of ballet dancers—many based on Nijinsky’s starring roles—that were imbued with flowing lines, exotic settings and costumes, and a sense of effortless grace. This notecard assortment reproduces four plates from a copy of the album held in the collection of the British Library.

Contains five each of the following notecards:
Georges Barbier, Le pavillon d’Armide, 1913
Georges Barbier, L’oiseau de feu (The Firebird), 1913
Georges Barbier, Nijinsky as the Golden Slave in Shéhérazade, 1913
Georges Barbier, Nijinsky as a faun in L’aprÉs-midi d’un faune, 1913

Twenty assorted 5 x 7 in. blank notecards (5 each of 4 styles) with white envelopes in a decorative box.

Published with The British Library.