Nijinsky (?)

On May 29, 1912, Rodin attended the premiere of Vaslav Nijinsky’s modern ballet Afternoon of a Faun, which scandalized Parisian audiences with its erratic choreography and explicit content. The following morning, a front-page newspaper editorial signed by Rodin praised the “deliberately awkward” and “jerky” movement of the dancers. Nijinsky posed for Rodin a few days later. The artist evokes the choregrapher’s avant-garde style in the angularity of this torqued figure, possibly a depiction of the dancer himself.