Leonid Katchourovsky.

Original photograph, b/w, 24 x 18 cm, blind stamp at lower right corner.

In costume for "Le spectre de la rose", ballet in one act created by the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev and premiered in Monte Carlo on 19 April 1911. The main roles were then danced by Vaslav Nijinsky and Tamara Karsavina. Leonid Katchourovsky was a dancer and choreographer of the Ballet of Diaghilev. He was named Ballet Master of La Monnaie during the season of 1934-1935 and despite the title, he continued to perform as a dancer. He left La Monnaie in 1940-1941 because of too much sympathy for the occupant and "ses déboires répétés avec les autorités temporaires de tutelle finiront par agacer la direction du théâtre" (cfr http://www.musimem.com/thoran.htm). With a dedication in Russian to "his dear student Natacha", signed from Brussels, 1943. Willy Kessels (1889-1974) was one of the most important Belgian photographers of the interwar period, especially regarding the photography of architecture. He was undoubtedly the most important representative of a new, "modernist" photography. He was condemned as a collaborator at the Liberation, this damaged his career.
Ref. https://kessels.ideesculture.fr/About/willykessels. - http://www.musimem.com.