Ker-Xavier Roussel (French 1867-1944) Portrait of Vaslav Nijinsky

Ker-Xavier Roussel (French, 1867-1944) Portrait of Vaslav Nijinsky Initialed and inscribed "K. X.R./étude pour l'Apres midi/d'un Faune" l.l. Graphite on paper, sheet size 6 7/8 x 4 7/8 in., framed. Condition: Paper backed, tape hinged, minor acid burn, minor handling creases. Provenance: Daniel Sickles, Paris, France; Hans Peter Kraus, New York; Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (née Braman) Grasso, Essex, Connecticut. Literature: [Collection Daniel Sickles] Bibliothèque d'un Amateur, Très Beaux Livres Illustrés Modernes Dans d'Importantes Reliures dont 53 Signées de Pierre Legrain, Exemplaires uniques dont Les Fleurs du Mal Illustrées par Rouault, Deuxieme partie , Paris: Musée Galliéra, 21 May 1963 (no. 265); Kraus, H.P., The Illustrated Book , Catalogue 108, no. 138, 1964. N.B. The work was one of eight original drawings included in a presentation copy of Souvenirs d'un marchand de tableaux by Ambroise Vollard, published by Éditions Albin Michel in 1937, which was pen inscribed and gifted to his chauffeur Marcel Z. Méraud (see lot 777 for two letters in the Archives Matisse from Marcel Z. Méraud regarding the circumstances of Vollard's gift).