When French Open meets Chinese art

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Even though Roland-Garros is thousands of miles away from China, the 2018 French Open poster does contain some Chinese elements.

French contemporary artist Fabienne Verdier manages to capture the movement of a tennis ball’s bounce, hitting the clay, and setting off on one of many possible trajectories.

Abstract as it is, at first sight, Verdier explains that the ball’s movement gives off incredible energy, “I tried to portray the lightning speed of the player’s movements. The energy that they transmit to the ball in a movement full of spontaneity, vitality, power, precision and slide.”

Twitter Photo

Born in Paris in 1962, Verdier has special feelings towards the French Open, “for me, Roland-Garros evokes those first warm days that herald the arrival of summer in Paris when the intense light of May and June makes the ochre clay sparkle. As the sun races across the sky, the courts turn from amber to tobacco, from saffron to sepia, from ochre to red, from sienna to brown,” said Verdier.

As the first ever French artist, as well as the fourth woman to create a poster for the tournament, Verdier has been strongly influenced by Chinese traditional paintings and calligraphy as she spent almost a decade in China between 1983 to 1992 for training alongside great masters after studying Fine Art.

Fabienne Verdier /VCG Photo

In fact, this is not the first time that Chinese elements are found in a Grand Slam poster. In 2015, Du Zhenjun became the first Chinese artist to create a work of art for the tournament, depicting a player serving to begin a point.

2015 French Open poster /VCG Photo

Since 1980, the annual tennis event has displayed posters designed by renowned artists around the world.