Tennis Party

After spending a winter term at Heatherley's School of Art in London, Lavery moved to Paris in 1881 where he studied at the Académie Julian. After Lavery's return to Glasgow in 1885, renderings of the urban middle class replaced his earlier interest in the peasant subject matter. Lavery became one of the leaders of the Glasgow boys, a group of young painters committed to the ideals of naturalism. He obtained a sitting from the Queen and this ensured his position as the primary young portraitist of his generation. He had moved to London in 1896 and became vice-president of the International Society, which was established shortly after in 1897. His role was to hold regular international exhibitions in London under the successive presidencies of Whistler and Rodin. Although Lavery's work was favoured in Paris, Rome and Berlin rather than in London, he nevertheless exhibited at all the major European salons. He painted dozens of pieces depicting tennis games.