Van Vechten, Carl. FRANCISCO MONCION AS SEBASTIAN. Original photograph, 1944. 7 x 5 inches. Titled and dated, and with the photographer's rubber stamp, all verso. Ex collection of the novelist James Purdy, who received it as a gift from the photographer. In excellent condition. Francisco Moncion, 1919-1995, was born in the Dominican Republic, but came to New York while still a child. He enrolled in George Balanchine's School of American Ballet in 1939. He was one of the orginal members of the Ballet Society, founded by Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein in 1946; he continued with the company when it became the New York City Ballet in 1948, remaining, as its senior principal dancer until 1985. This early photograph, depicting Moncion at age 25, was taken in 1944, when hen was a soloist with the Marquis de Cuevas's International Ballet.
