Grass Court Legends
Price range: €39 through €159
“Grass Courts Legends” is a collectable fine art print: Marta Bazan’s tribute to the shortest season in tennis. Grass lasts a few weeks – the ball stays low, points end early, and everything that worked on clay has to be relearned. Then it is over. The composition gathers a dozen or so moments from those weeks at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, home of the oldest tournament in the sport, first played in 1877.
The composition began on screen, but the final original is entirely hand-drawn. Every line, shadow and detail is the result of many hours of work with alcohol markers and coloured pencils.
- Limited edition of 50. You’re buying a piece that will never be mass produced, hanging in countless flats
- Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gsm cotton paper. 100% cotton, ISO 9706, museum quality according to the manufacturer
- Archival pigment print. Epson UltraChrome HDX pigment inks, rated up to 200 years in Wilhelm Imaging Research testing
- Standard dimensions that fit ready-made frames, easily bought online, so you can match the style to your interior
A season that lasts a month
Grass is the shortest season in tennis and the one players have least time to learn. A few weeks after the clay, the tour moves onto lawns, the ball stays low, points end early, and everything that worked in Paris has to be relearned. Then it is over. That brevity is exactly why the grass season feels like a festival rather than a stretch of the calendar – and why it ends at the All England Club with the tournament that started it all.
Those are the weeks grass gives you: short, unforgiving, and every so often the setting for something nobody saw coming.
Marta Bazan’s illustration is a tribute to all of it: a crowded, generous composition where signature shots, familiar silhouettes and the green of a well-worn baseline sit side by side. It is not a record of one match. It is what a whole grass season leaves behind.
The history of those weeks holds the sport’s best stories. In 1985 a seventeen-year-old German arrived unseeded and left as champion, the youngest man ever to win the title. In 2001 Goran Ivanišević came in on a wild card, ranked No. 125 in the world, having already lost three Wimbledon finals – and beat Patrick Rafter 9–7 in the fifth. He is still the only wild card ever to win a men’s singles major.
Drawn by hand
As crowded with figures as it is, the composition began digitally and the final original is entirely handmade. The drawing was transferred onto paper section by section on a light pad. The first layer of colour comes from the distinctive bleed of alcohol markers; the depth, texture and crisp detail are built up afterwards in layered coloured pencil.
What this artwork shows
Marta Bazan
Marta is an illustrator in love with colour, shape, line and pattern. She makes light-hearted illustrations saturated with a boundless palette of colour. In everyday life she values restraint, but in her work what matters most are countless details, colour and light. She loves drawing playful characters, architecture and still lifes. Her aim is to bring a smile to the people who see her work, the little ones and the fully grown alike. She keeps pushing her skills to come closer to her own idea of perfection: the imagination and lightness of a child.
“Engineering turned out to be too serious and marketing too pushy, so going back to a teenage passion was a bullseye.”
She works in traditional media, with a few small exceptions, now and then swapping gouache for a tablet. More and more she reaches for markers or coloured pencils, which give her even more freedom and more room to play with form and texture. She adores retro book and magazine illustration, but in truth she finds most of her inspiration in everyday life: people she meets by chance, colourful fashion and travel.
No, she does not play tennis, but she is brilliant at cheering from the stands and in front of the television.
A limited edition fine art print
The hand-painted originals behind much of our work are scanned at 600 DPI, with a colour proof checked before printing. We print with pigment inks (giclée) on an Epson SureColor P9000 plotter, using Epson UltraChrome HDX pigment inks.
We print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gsm paper: 100% cotton, acid free and compliant with ISO 9706. The manufacturer describes it as museum quality. Hahnemühle is a German mill that has been making paper since 1584. The matt surface with its delicate felt structure keeps the character and the touch of traditional art paper, and at the same time renders the tonal transitions and the detail of the original faithfully. It does not reflect light, so the work looks good from every angle. The manufacturer declares a very low content of optical brighteners, the substances that artificially whiten paper and fade over time.
In independent testing by Wilhelm Imaging Research, Epson UltraChrome HDX inks reach a colour print life of up to 200 years. The real life of a print depends on the paper and on the display conditions; a work framed behind glass, away from direct sunlight, keeps its properties longest.
- Paper: Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gsm, 100% cotton, acid free, ISO 9706
- Finish: matt, with a delicate felt structure, no glare
- Inks: Epson UltraChrome HDX pigment inks, water and fade resistant
- Quality control: every print checked by hand before packing
Which size works best?
| Size | Best for | Fine art print |
|---|---|---|
| 30 × 40 cm | A small wall, a shelf, or one of several smaller pieces hung together | €39 |
| 40 × 50 cm | A compact living room, a study, or a pair hung side by side | €49 |
| 50 × 70 cm | A bedroom, a living room, an office or a hallway. The usual choice above a sofa or a bed | €69 |
| 70 × 100 cm | A living room, an office or a dining room, as the dominant piece | €99 |
| 100 × 140 cm | A large living room or open space, as an architectural accent | €159 |
How to frame your poster
- Posters ship without a frame, which is how they reach you safely, rolled inside a rigid tube. The certificate travels with them.
- Buy the frame locally or online. An art shop, a home store or a framer will do. Our sizes match the most common ready-made frames.
- Keep the frame quiet. Wood or aluminium in black, white or natural wood, a neutral frame lets the colours carry.
Who is this piece for?
- A study, a living room or a hallwayanywhere the piece gets room to be looked at.
- A gift for someone who plans their July around the grass season.
- A gallery wallalongside other prints in matching frames.
A gift for a tennis lover
- A gift for a tennis player at the end of the season
- A Christmas present for the person who already has everything
- For someone whose year really starts in the last week of June
Fast dispatch and easy returns
Courier or pick-up point across the EU. Free delivery on orders of €129 or more.
Lead time: 1 to 3 working days for everything, originals included. Every piece is carefully protected for transport.
14 days to return, no reason needed. Send the work back unmarked in its original packaging and we refund the price of the piece.
Frequently asked questions
What makes a fine art print different from a regular poster?
A fine art print is a pigment print on archival 100% cotton paper; we use Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 308 gsm. It is the same technique museums and galleries use to reproduce works of art; in independent Wilhelm Imaging Research testing, Epson UltraChrome HDX inks reach a colour print life of up to 200 years. An ordinary poster is offset or digital print on thin, glossy wood pulp paper. It is cheaper, but it fades quickly and does not hold the subtle tonal transitions.
What is Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gsm paper?
Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gsm is a 100% cotton paper. Hahnemühle is a German mill that has been making paper since 1584. The paper is acid free and contains no lignin, the component of ordinary wood pulp paper that oxidises in light and causes yellowing. It meets ISO 9706 and the manufacturer describes it as museum quality. The manufacturer also declares a very low content of optical brighteners, the substances that artificially whiten paper and fade over time. At 0.48 mm thick the sheet sits firmly in a frame and has a pleasant weight in the hand. The matt surface, with its delicate felt structure, does not reflect light, so the work looks as good in a living room in the morning as it does in the evening under artificial light.
Does the fine art print come with a frame?
No, our fine art prints are sold unframed. We ship them in a sturdy cardboard tube that keeps them safe in transit. You can easily find a matching frame at a local framing shop, an art supply store, or online. Our print sizes match the most common ready-made frame dimensions (30 × 40, 40 × 50, 50 × 70, 70 × 100 and 100 × 140 cm).
How is the print packaged for shipping?
We ship the print in a sturdy cardboard tube with an extra layer of protective paper that shields it from moisture and creasing. The tube is sealed, and inside you will find the edition certificate. Production and dispatch: 1–3 working days. Delivery across the EU: 2–5 days. Delivery is free on orders of €129 or more.
How should I choose a frame for Marta Bazan “Grass Court Legends” poster?
Like all our fine art prints, “Grass Court Legends” has a clean white border that gives it a gallery feel and a little breathing room inside the frame. Because the illustration is rich in the greens of the Wimbledon lawn, it sits beautifully in a warm, natural wood frame such as oak or ash, which echoes the grass and keeps the whole piece relaxed and inviting. If you prefer a sharper, more contemporary look, a matt black frame wraps the colours in crisp contrast. Both work well, so the choice comes down to your interior. And because the sizes match standard frame dimensions, you can pick a ready-made frame with no custom work.
How does a fine art poster differ from a canvas print of the same artwork?
A fine art poster is an archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 308 gsm cotton paper; it requires framing and is suitable for classic, collector-style display. A canvas print is a pigment print on Solution Canvas, a matt 365 gsm canvas stretched over a wooden stretcher, ready to hang, with the texture of the fabric clearly visible.
How many prints are in the limited edition of “Grass Court Legends”?
The fine art print edition of Marta Bazan’s “Grass Court Legends” comes in a limited run of 50 numbered copies.
