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‘Afternoon of a Faun’
by Kevin Hong

Tue, Feb 13, 18 / James BDP

We're delighted to bring the second instalment in our ballet series with 'Afternoon of a Faun' by Kevin Hong. Choreographed and first led by Vaslav Nijinsky with music from Claude Debussy 'Afternoon of a Faun' is considered to be one of the first modern ballets and was not without controversy at its opening in 1912 due to its unorthodox staging. For those not familiar with the piece you may like to know the ballet makes an appearance in the music video for Queen's 1984 single 'I Want to Break Free' with Freddy Mercury playing the role of the faun, a video that was also met with resistance upon release and was promptly banned by MTV and other stations. 

For this poster art director Nicolas Delort has enlisted the talents of New York born and raised illustrator Kevin Hong who has delivered a beautifully elegant composition. A reviewer of the original staging of ballet commented: "The miracle of the thing lies with Nijinsky – the fabulous Nijinsky, the peerless dancer, who as the faun does no dancing.... His movements are at once abrupt and stealthy. He leaps once. This one leap is a surprise and an illumination." We hope this poster is all of that too.  

 

5-colour 18″ x 36″ screen print
270gsm China White Colorplan paper
Hand numbered from an edition of 50 
Gallery stamp on the reverse
Printed by White Duck
£50

 

Also in the series:



'Swan Lake' by Rovina Cai available here