Court on Canvas: Tennis in Art

Court on Canvas: Tennis in Art celebrates the origins of the game in Birmingham and explores the ways in which tennis has inspired artists from the mid-nineteenth century onwards.

The first-ever game of lawn tennis was played in 1857 at 8 Ampton Road, Edgbaston, by Major Harry Gem, a Birmingham solicitor, athlete and amateur artist. The game rapidly became popular, particularly with the middle classes, and within a few decades was played enthusiastically at country houses and newly established tennis clubs across the country. Court on Canvas: Tennis in Art celebrates the origins of the game in Birmingham and explores the ways in which tennis has inspired artists from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. The book guides us from the origins of the game as a genteel pastime for the upper classes, through its codification as a sport, to the international high-earning power game of today. It illustrates the changes in fashion associated with the sport, from restrictive and unwieldy whale-bone corsets and large hats to the synthetic materials that permitted greater agility and athleticism on court, particularly for women. Court on Canvas outlines the importance of the game in challenging general inequalities faced by women in the twentieth century, positing the rise of tennis as a socio-cultural phenomenon of enormous significance in the history of women’s liberation. The book contains a survey of images of tennis in art from the 1870s onwards, and detailed examinations of the works are placed in a wider social, historical and art historical context. Featured paintings include The Tennis Party (1885) by John Lavery, which is reunited with its original sketch for the first time in thirty years, and less well known works by Twentieth-century artists including Eric Gill, Paul Nash and Stanley Spencer. The publication comprises five essays: two essays by Professor Ann Sumner (Director of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham) covering a range of themes including the representation of women in tennis; a chapter by Kenneth McConkey on John Lavery and his many works inspired by tennis; Robert Holland writes on the history of tennis in Birmingham, the West Midlands and Wales, and Sue Elks provides a history
of tennis costume. Court on Canvas: Tennis in Art appeals to tennis enthusiasts and art historians alike.