‘Serving Across Borders: International Tennis Art’

18th June 2024

An illustrated talk at Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club with displays of toys relating to the game of tennis  by Ilkley Toy Museum

Tuesday 18 June 7.00 pm.

by Ann Sumner, Vice Chair Leeds Art Fund

All my life I have been an art enthusiast, a keen tennis fan and player.  Back in 2011, I had the unique opportunity of combining these two passions by curating the first exhibition dedicated to artistic representations of lawn tennis. This was at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham, where I was Director. The Institute is situated in Edgbaston and is part of the University of Birmingham. We worked closely with both the Edbgaston Archery and Lawn Tennis Club (the oldest surviving club in the country) and the nearby Edgbaston Priory Tennis Club, which hosts the annual Rothesay Classic women’s pre-Wimbledon tournament every year in June.  The exhibition was called Court on Canvas: Tennis in Art and was a huge success, opened by Ann Jones, the former Wimbledon champion, and visited by Martina Navratilova along with large numbers of visitors making it one of the most popular exhibitions the Barber has ever staged. Edgbaston was of course the ideal place to have such an exhibition as the first games of lawn tennis was played there in 1859 at a large suburban villa in Ampton Road. 

Court on Canvas: Tennis in Art exhibition catalogue 2011 published by Philip Wilson

 

Since curating that 2011 exhibition and producing the accompanying book which focused on British Tennis Art, I have moved to Ilkley and become obsessed with tracking down tennis art – looking out for examples whenever I visit galleries!  I pursued my research, expanding to include works painted outside Britain and by artists from all over the world, writing a chapter in the Routledge Handbook of Tennis.  The chapter was entitled International Tennis Art, published at the end of 2019, when I also gave a paper at the Tennis History Conference at the All England Club.  So, it is a great pleasure to be asked to speak during the Ilkley Lexus Trophy on this subject, at a club with a rich tennis history stretching back to 1880, and a tournament which was first played on grass courts in 1886 and which today welcomes players from all over the world.  

The game of lawn tennis was played by both men and women, often in the open air and with spectators watching, which especially inspired professional artists.  As it has developed within shifting social conditions, historic context and artistic movements, internationally it has continued as a popular subject for artists. My talk on 18th June will explore the early British paintings of this genteel sporting pastime often played  in country gardens while looking at the shift towards representing  players on court at clubs and gradually on public courts, as the game became more widely played.  The works I will show reflect the constantly changing fashions and equipment used, as the sport transformed into the professional game played at major tournaments internationally in front of vast crowds today.  Artists such as Jacque-Emile Blanche, Samuel Peploe and  Max Liebermann were drawn to the subject and later François Flameng, Christopher Wood and Eric Ravilious all made major contributions capturing players not only static, but moving mid game.   More recently David Hockney, Lottie Dodd and Hurvin Anderson all engaged with tennis art producing a wide range of responses to the game.

Increasingly artists sought to capture the graceful movement of players on court, changes in sports clothing and the contexts in which the game was played.  They responded by adapting their portraiture, landscape, genre and still life painting to include the increasingly popular sport. The game, which developed in the West Midlands, spread partly due to the enthusiasm of Major Walter Clopton Wingfield who living in north Wales, developed his Sphairistike box sets which were purchased all over the world.  Lawn tennis was soon played in Europe, particularly in North America and through the links of Empire all over the world.  The earliest example of a young English girl painted with a tennis racket is dated 1877 (Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum), although we do not know the name of the artist. An example of an Australian artist adapting his portrait style to include the new popular game is George Lambert’s Vantage I win executed in Australia in 1896, showing how swiftly the popularity of the game had spread.

George Lambert Vantage I win, 1896 print Private Collection

Lavery’s iconic image of the Tennis Party 1885 (Aberdeen Art Gallery) is a familiar image today and the watercolour entitled Played!  of the same year (Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museums, Glasgow Life), which we used on the front cover of our Birmingham catalogue, is equally well known, but less familiar are his works such as Tennis under the Orange Trees, Cannes of 1929 (illustrated below) or Winter in Florida (1926, Ulster Museums, Belfast). In my talk I will explore Lavery’s involvement with tennis and his later tennis paintings, as well as with works by Eric Ravilious and Christopher Wood who enjoyed watching tennis in Paris.  I will look at the popularity of the game in France in particular, especially in the south, and go on to explore innovative German, Spanish and Italian painters who depicted tennis subjects, as well as highlighting American, Mexican and South American artists who sought to capture the game.  These highly attractive images are popular with collectors of tennis art, and many are owned by museums and galleries across the world.

 John Lavery Tennis under the Orange Trees, Cannes, 1929 Private Collection

I will look at some of the glamorous tennis stars of the early mid 20^th century, like Dorothy Round and Bunny Austen captured in beautiful photographs by the Bassano studio and take you on a visual journey of tennis art delights to the present day. 

On the evening, we will be accompanied by colleagues from the Ilkley Toy Museum who will be displaying toys inspired by racket sports over the years.  We hope you can join us for this unique evening at the Ilkley Tennis Club during the tournament, when wine and strawberries and cream will be served in the hospitality tent and there will be the chance for discussion and talk about tennis art.  We at the Leeds Art Fund are hugely grateful to Hartleys Auctions for their sponsorship and for the support of the Ilkley Tennis Club in organising this very special unique event.

François Flameng The French tennis champion, Max Decugis 1910 Private Collection 

Tickets for the event can be purchased from HERE

Ann Sumner, Vice Chair Leeds Art Fund

Profile: 

Ann Sumner is Vice Chair of Leeds Art Fund and a former Director and Professor of Fine Art and Curatorial Practice at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham, where she curated the highly successful Court on Canvas: Tennis in Art exhibition in 2011. Her research on tennis art is ongoing and she is regularly asked to give talks and lectures on the subject. She lives in Ilkley and is a member of the Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club.