ANNA PAVLOVA - PICTURE POST CARD SIGNED - HFSID 152755

ANNA PAVLOVA.
British postcard depicting the Russian prima ballerina on stage with a member of her ballet company.
Post Card Photograph signed: "Anna Pavlova". B/w with brown hue, 3½x5½. British post card in the Rotary Photographic Series, not filled in or stamped on verso, which has "Miss Bayley" written in unknown hand in pencil on address side. Photograph by Foulsham & Banfield (imprinted at lower margin). Captioned: "Anna Pavlova & M. Novikoff". We could find no reference to M. Novikoff. This photograph likely depicts Russian ballet dancer and ballet master Laurent Novikoff (1888-1956), who danced with Pavlova's company from 1911-1914 and 1919-1933. He was ballet master of the Chicago Opera from 1919-1933 and of New York's Metropolitan Opera from 1941-1945. Russian prima ballerina Anna Pavlova (1881-1931) made her U.S. debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in 1910. She had studied with the Maryinsky Theatre's Imperial School of Ballet in 1891, joining the Imperial Ballet in 1899 and becoming a prima ballerina, after having successfully danced Giselle, in 1906, the year before she embarked on her first tour of Moscow. After returning to Russia in 1910, Pavlova founded her own group with eight dancers in St. Petersburg, Russia, and she began making world tours (including her first return visit to the U.S.) in 1913. Pavlova was known for her grace and elegance, evident in her most famous performance, The Dying Swan. In 1918, she choreographed Autumn Leaves, which, along with Californian Poppy and The Dragonfly, became audience favorites. Signature, which is written in fountain pen, is written on dark area but is completely legible. Stray ink marks at mid-background. Slightly creased at blank corners. Minor surface scratches (most not evident head on). Verso is lightly soiled. Overall, fine condition.