Before and After Everest

50 years after his death, T. Howard Somervell (1890-1975), OBE, Olympic Gold Medal recipient, First World War field surgeon, medical missionary and mountaineer, is still not fully recognised for his artistic legacy. Following several years of planning and discussions among those who share the conviction that Somervell is an underrated artist, we have brought together an exhibition of selected pictures to celebrate his achievements as a landscape painter. Featured works include important loans from institutions and private collectors, some of which have never been exhibited in public before. 

 ^{Kangchenjunga, c.1939, oil on board, 120 x 180.(c) T. H. Somervell Estate, image courtesy Downs School, Colwall}

Howard Somervell was a polymath, a man of remarkably broad-ranging talents; he was also a man of strong faith and great humility. His art production was prodigious, amounting to many hundreds or even thousands of works. Our wish is that this exhibition will highlight the very best of this heroic man’s achievements as a hitherto unsung unofficial war artist and landscape painter of distinction.

We hope this exhibition will enable Somervell’s art to once again stand apart from the man's mountaineering and military careers and be valued in its own right, as it was in the past by Roerich and Rothenstein, and be seen as integral to the path of mid-twentieth century British landscape painting. Somervell is far from being just a topographer of the Himalaya and the Alps. The bold colour, limited palette and close tonality of his oil technique combine to create a ‘soft-modernist’ language in landscape paintings that are, in a way, as quintessentially English and of their period as the landscapes of John Nash or the Art Deco-inspired GWR Railway posters of the 1930s.

^{T. H. Somervell}

^{'Kampa Dzong' - T. H. Somervell}

As well as the exhibited paintings, Somervell's grandson, Tom Somervell, one of the exhibition's curators, will deliver a talk about his grandfather's early life leading up to his part in the 1922 and 1924 Everest expeditions, as well as his subsequent work as a medical missionary in southern India. The talk, which shares the exhibition's name, will take place on 8 July in the exhibition space and will be another fantastic opportunity to view these works. You can book your place here.

‘Before and After Everest: an exhibition of paintings by T. Howard Somervell (1890-1975)’ has been curated by Tom Somervell, William Mitchell, David Seddon, Julian Cooper, Simon Pierse and Graham Hoyland. It will run at the Alpine Club's Charlotte Road premises from 24 June to 18 July 2025.

There will be a private view on the evening of 24 June, coinciding with that evening's lecture. This event is open to all and can be booked by signing up to attend the lecture.

More generally, the exhibition will be open to visitors from 11:00 – 15:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as on London lecture evenings.

Visitors are kindly asked to book in advance using the form below so that we can ensure the necessary level of staffing. Failure to do so may lead to you being turned away.

'Kangchenjunga - The Five Treasures of the Snows' Exhibition Displays

In Spring 2025, the Alpine Club marked the 70th anniversary of the first ascent of Kangchenjunga with a special exhibition at Charlotte Road. Curated by former AC president John Porter, the exhibition told the story of this 'reconnaissance expedition' from inception to (just shy of) the summit, profiling the team members and recounting their journey to the top of the world's third highest peak.

Illustrated with incredible photography from the expedition team, the exhibition displays are now available for all to view below. So take a minute and retrace the steps of the 1955 team using the scans below. (To zoom in, click on an image and then select the 'expand' icon in the top left corner of the image).

Exhibition: Kangchenjunga - The Five Treasures of the Snows

^{Photo by Jakub Michankow (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license)}

"There is no doubt that those who first climb Kangchenjunga will achieve the greatest feat in mountaineering, for it is a mountain which combines in its defenses not only the severe handicaps of wind, weather, and very high altitude, but technical climbing problems and objective dangers of an order even higher than those we encountered on Everest."

This is how John Hunt, the leader of the 1953 Mount Everest Expedition, summed up the challenge posed by Kangchenjunga. Yet, just two years on from his team's successful ascent of Everest, his deputy, Charles Evans, on what was supposed to be a reconnaisance expedition, would lead two parties to (just shy) of the summit.

70 years on from that ascent, our new exhibition, Kangchenjunga - The Five Treasures of the Snows, profiles that expedition team, chronicles their ascent using artefacts from the AC and Mountain Heritage Trust Collections and looks at the wider history of the mountain, including the early expeditions of Douglas Freshfield and Aleister Crowley, as well as its position as a holy mountain to local Buddhist communities.

^{The Second Ice Fall from Camp 2}

^{The summit spire viewed fromJoe Brown & George Band's lunch stop}

‘Kangchenjunga - The Five Treasures of the Snows’ has been curated by John Porter and will run at the Alpine Club's Charlotte Road premises from 8 April to 29 May 2025.

There will be an informal opening on the evening of 8 April, coinciding with that evening's lecture, at which a short film about the mountain will be shown. This event is open to all and can be booked by signing up to attend the lecture.

More generally, the exhibition will be open to visitors from 11:00 – 15:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as on London lecture evenings.

Visitors are kindly asked to book in advance using the form below so that we can ensure the necessary level of staffing. Failure to do so may lead to you being turned away.