Vaslav Nijinsky


Photograph Photograph Photograph Photograph

Robert Edmond Jones (1887-1954). Till Eulenspiegel, Costume design for Bourgeoise, ca. 1916. Charcoal and colored pencil. Howard D. Rothschild Collection. pf MS Thr 414.4 (70). Bequest, 1989.

Robert Edmond Jones (1887-1954). Till Eulenspiegel, Costume design for men, 1916. Pencil, colored chalk. Uncatalogued designs. Gift of Arne Ekstrom, 1993.

 

Till Eulenspiegel

The ballet Till Eulenspiegel used the colorful score to Rich­ard Strauss’s popular tone poem, and followed Strauss’s nar­rative about the legendary prankster. It was produced in New York City in 1916, during the second Ballets Russes tour of America. Vaslav Nijinsky created the choreography and assumed the title role.

The décor and costumes were commissioned from the young American designer Robert Edmond Jones, who had graduated from Harvard Univer­sity several years earlier. Not only was this the only ballet designed by an American, it was also the only ballet never seen in Europe and never seen by Diaghilev.