Not currently on display at the V&A

A Game of Tennis

Dress Fabric
1927 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The pattern on this printed silk dress fabric is called ‘A Game of Tennis’. The designer, Helen Wills Moody, was a famous American tennis player and also an amateur artist.

This pattern was part of the Americana range of dress fabrics which the Stehli Silks Corporation commissioned from several artists in 1927. The fabrics were designed specifically to depict contemporary American life and to make a change from ubiquitous floral dresses.

In 1926 the highly influential International Exhibition of Decorative and Modern Industrial Arts toured the USA. Originally staged in Paris in 1925, this was the exhibition that showcased the new Art Deco style. It had an enormous impact on American designers and encouraged them to work in the modern style, as shown in this fabric.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleA Game of Tennis (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Printed silk crepe de chine
Brief description
Printed silk crêpe-de-chine with tennis theme; USA; ca. 1927.
Physical description
A print of women tennis players in lavender and pink on a white ground. The women wear 1920s tennis dresses and bandeaux. The style of illustration is influenced by modernist movements like Futurism, as several versions of the figure at slightly different stages of serving the ball are superimposed on eachother.
Dimensions
  • Length: 12.25in
  • Width: 11.5in
Style
Credit line
Given by the Stehli Silks Corporation
Object history
Registered File number 1929/8683.
Subjects depicted
Summary
The pattern on this printed silk dress fabric is called ‘A Game of Tennis’. The designer, Helen Wills Moody, was a famous American tennis player and also an amateur artist.

This pattern was part of the Americana range of dress fabrics which the Stehli Silks Corporation commissioned from several artists in 1927. The fabrics were designed specifically to depict contemporary American life and to make a change from ubiquitous floral dresses.

In 1926 the highly influential International Exhibition of Decorative and Modern Industrial Arts toured the USA. Originally staged in Paris in 1925, this was the exhibition that showcased the new Art Deco style. It had an enormous impact on American designers and encouraged them to work in the modern style, as shown in this fabric.
Collection
Accession number
T.87F-1930

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Record createdMay 4, 2004
Record URL
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