Davis Cup Wimbledon poster – Walter Goetz – 1936

Davis Cup Wimbledon vintage tennis poster – Walter Goetz – 1936

The International Lawn Tennis Challenge began in 1900 as a tennis competition between the British Isles and USA. The idea for the competition was conceived and designed by four members of America’s prestigious Ivy League Harvard College in Massachusetts. One of the four people involved was a young tennis player named Dwight F Davis. He later became a politician and served as the secretary of War between 1925 and 1929.

According to his book Tennis; A Cultural History Heiner Gillmeister writes ‘…and Davis’s name was mentioned as someone who might ‘do something for the game … put up some big prize, or cup’.

Davis duly ordered an appropriate sterling silver punchbowl trophy from Shreve, Crump & Low, purchasing it from his own funds for about $1,000, to go to the winner of the new international tennis competition, known as the International Lawn Tennis Challenge. However, because of Davis’s donation of the cup, it was soon renamed in his honour.

This vintage Wimbledon tennis poster was created by the German illustrator artist and cartoonist Walter Goetz. He was born in Cologne in 1911, and became a naturalised British citizen in 1934. His comic strip, Colonel Up and Mr Down, was first printed in the Daily Express in 1933 and appeared into the second world war. He also went on to produce works for magazines such as Vogue, Night and Day, Lilliput and Punch.

Goertz’s poster  for the 1936 International Lawn Tennis Challenge was produced by the London Passenger Transport Board, a precurssor to London Transport in 1936. It advertised what had become better known as the Davis Cup. It provided the dates of the Interzone Final and the Challenge Rounds along with directions for how to get to the Wimbledon venue. The poster recommends travelling by Underground to the Southfoelds Stations and transferring to special buses put on for the event. The competition ran from July 18 until July 28th 1936.

Nineteen teams entered the Europe Zone with four more teams entering from the Americas Zone. The final was played on grass at the All England Club Centre Court in Wimbledon, London, England on 25–28 July.

In the Inter-Zonal Final Australia beat Germany four matches to one. In the Challenge Round Britain’s team consisted of Bunny Austin, Fred Perry, Pat Hughes and Raymond Tucker. The Australian team was made up of Jack Crawford and Adrian Quist.

Britain beat the Australian team three matches to two, with the legendary British tennis player Fred Perry beating Jack Crawford of Australia 6-2 6-3 6-3 in Round 5.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears, or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and frame for a great price.