'The Football Match' is a stylish and unique full-size pocket in silk square and has been created using the rugby football painting 'The Football Match' by Australian modernist artist Roy de Maistre CBE in collaboration with its owner, the Janet Holmes à Court Collection in Perth, and Roy de Maistre's Estate. De Maistre (1894-1968) was a pioneer of modern Australian art; he experimented with linking colours of the spectrum to notes of the musical scale, 'colour-music', and he was recognised as the first Australian artist to use pure abstraction. Works produced following his permanent move to London in 1930 were in a figurative style and based on his interpretation of Cubism.
De Maistre's original oil on canvas rugby work was painted in 1938. Little known today is that from 1912 to 1948 the Olympic Games awarded medals for art and literature about sport and 'The Football Match' was submitted for the 1948 London Summer Olympics, representing Great Britain.
The artwork is reproduced with a good balance of colour between the printed and reverse sides of the silk pocket square so works perfectly with any pocket square fold. The image is framed by the pocket square’s blue grey border and blue hand-rolled & hand-sewn hem.
'The Football Match' is presented in a complimentary Otway & Orford branded gift box with its blueberry-coloured lid and pale blue base. Inside each box, the high-quality rugby silk pocket square is tissue-wrapped and accompanied by a card telling the story of the artist and his vibrant artwork.