Lew Hoad Australia Player No 1. in Prague, 1956

Prague: Marcel Niederle, 1956.
. Signed by Illustrator

28cm x 21cm (drawing size), 40.5cm x 29cm (mount size). Original mixed media, pencil and watercolour.

Original portrait of Lew Hoad by the Czech artist and caricaturist Marcel Niederle (1898-1990), drawn in Prague two days after Hoad’s victory at the French Championships, and signed by Hoad the following day. Hoad appeared on the Prague courts on 28 and 29 May at the invitation of the Czechoslovak tennis authorities, then flew to Barcelona for the Trofeo Conde de Godo, and went on to win Wimbledon, the third of his three major singles titles that year. Signed by Niederle and captioned “Lew Hoad. Australia Player No 1. Sketched in Praha 28 V 1956”, and inscribed by Hoad “Very Best Wishes Lewis Hoad Praha 29/5/56”. Prepared for a cover of the Czech sports magazine ‘Stadion’ that was never published, and mounted on a large sheet of paper with the magazine’s worksheet tipped to the mount, clear of the drawing. Niederle specialised in sporting subjects, particularly tennis and ice hockey. After working in New York as an illustrator for Sports Illustrated he returned to Czechoslovakia, where he drew the leading tennis players of the 1950s to the 1970s, a period dominated by Australian champions. No holdings of Niederle’s work can be traced in any Australian public collection.

Some creasing and tears to the paper mount. Drawing is in Fine Condition, with some. Very Good Condition.

AU$2,000