Art Galleries / Tennis (1976-2004)

During the late 1970s Rosemary turned her attention to the movement of world-class tennis players – a logical progression.

As in the cricket paintings, she used images taken from televised close-ups to study and capture the essence of sporting geniuses’ movement and balance. It should be noted that this use of the televised image is in the tradition of the use of the camera obscura as Hockney demonstrated in his documentary A Bigger Splash.

The result in 1978 was 15 paintings, vast in size, about 6’x 5’, even larger than the cricket.

In preparation for painting the body at this scale, she did three studies of nude wrestling taken from Muybridge (see the Miscellaneous gallery).

Borg and linesman Wimbledon 1976 4.5' x 6' (sold)	Nastase and linesman Wimbledon 1976 5' x 6' (sold)	Rosie Casals Wimbledon 1976 198 x 178 cm	Virginia Wade Wimbledon 1977 202 x 158 cm
Jimmy Connors I Wimbledon 1977 221 x 154 cm	Jimmy Connors II Wimbledon 1977 5' x 6' (sold)	Jimmy Connors III Wimbledon 1977 5' x 6' (sold)
At the end of her life, a year before she died she resumed painting after a long gap in which she had concentrated on making a living by renovating property and selling houses. She returned to tennis, painting two paintings of the Williams sisters, and almost obsessedly SIX paintings of Lleyton Hewitt. These have never been properly exhibited and remain unsold.
Venus Williams and lineswoman Australian Open 2003 182 x 211 cm	Serena Williams and John McEnroe Australian Open 2003 182 x 202 cm
Lleyton Hewitt I Australian Open 2004 184 x 186 cm	Lleyton Hewitt II (& Photographer) Australian Open 2004 186 x 187 cm	Lleyton Hewitt III Australian Open 2004 170 x 216 cm	Lleyton Hewitt IV Australian Open 2004 178 x 216
Lleyton Hewitt V Australian Open 2004 170 x 217 cm	Lleyton Hewitt VI Australian Open 2004 170 x 216 cm