Exhibitions

The Club is pleased to be able to use its premises and resources, along with its renowned archive of mountaineering reports, books, art and artefacts to host and curate exhibitions that celebrate mountain history and culture. As well as spotlighting the work of contemporary artists and academics, the Club has also worked to mark key mountaineering anniversaries; bringing together records of the past to keep our history alive and engaging for climbers and the wider community alike.

Individual exhibitions may vary, but most take place at our Charlotte Road Club House.

A full list of past and upcoming exhibitions is shown below.

Edward Compton - The Wild Pomp of Alpine Majesty

Edward Compton - The Wild Pomp of Alpine Majesty

Matterhorn - ET Compton (1880)
 
Edward Theodore Compton combined a celebrated career as an alpine artist with extensive climbing. Between 1878 and 1914 he made 20 first ascents, contributed to 30 volumes of the ZAV and frequently exhibited at the Alpine Club’s winter exhibition. His paintings were celebrated for their realism and featured not just mountains but also climbers. They are dynamic illustrations of the romance of mountaineering.
 

'Probably no one prior to ET Compton had ever combined hard climbing with such talented work as an Alpine artist.' – Peter Mallalieu, Artists of the Alpine Club

 
This exhibition brings together the club’s collection of 9 paintings by ET Compton, presenting them alongside a sample of the work he did for the Austrian Alpine Club and prints from the AC collections. This is a rare opportunity to see the works of one of the premier peinture alpinistes outside of the Alpine Museum in Innsbruck.
 

Auf Dem Koblack - ET Compton (1894)

Presanella from Vadrett - ET Compton

The exhibition is housed at the Alpine Club's Charlotte Road premises, (London EC2A). It will run from 24 September 2024 to 24 October 2024 and is open to visitors from 10:00 – 16:00 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.

 

Everest 1924

Everest 1924

In June 2024, 100 years after the disappearance of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine high on the slopes of Everest, the Alpine Club will open its new exhibition which examines the 1924 Mount Everest Expedition and assesses its continuing legacy. Everest 1924 will profile the personalities at the centre of the expedition, from Mallory and Irvine to the local workers who made the venture possible, and consider the impact of the expedition on current perceptions of the world's highest mountain.

Using photographs and artefacts from the expedition itself, including Sandy Irvine's ice axe (rediscovered in 1933), the exhibition will bring to life the experiences of the climbers; from their arrival in Darjeeling to within touching distance of the summit.


Irvine's Ice Axe (Rediscovered in 1933) - On display as part of the exhibition.

The 1924 Expedition Team - Courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society

The exhibition will run from 4 June 2024 to 25 July 2024 and is open to visitors from 12:00 – 17:00 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, as well as on London lecture evenings.

There will be an official exhibition opening on the evening of 11 June. This event is free to attend and will feature the premiere of a new film about the 1924 expedition produced as a collaboration between the Alpine Club and the Mount Everest Foundation. The film, titled Everest Revisited 1924-2024, uses extensive historical footage, as well as interviews with Everest scholars and mountaineers to tell the story of 1924 and to ask questions about what the mountain means to climbers and Nepalese people 100 years on from this famous expedition. You can sign up to attend the opening using the form below.

 

 

 

James Hart Dyke - Mont Blanc: The Summit Paintings

James Hart-Dyke - 'Mont Blanc: The Summit Paintings'

‘..in watching a sunset from Mont Blanc one feels that one is passing one of those rare moments of life at which all the surrounding scenery is instantaneously and indelibly photographed on the mental retina by a process which no second-hand operation can even dimly transfer to others.’

Leslie Stephen, The Playground of Europe, 1894.

 
James at work on Mont Blanc at Sunset with his Support Team - Pascal Tournaire

In 1894, the author, biographer and mountaineer Leslie Stephen dedicated The Playground of Europe, one of the best known and loved books about the Alps, to his friend and painter, Gabriel Loppé.

"My Dear Loppé, Twenty-one years ago, we climbed Mont Blanc together to watch the sunset from its summit. Less than a year ago, we observed the same phenomenon from the foot of the mountain. The intervening years have probably made little difference in the sunset. If they have made some difference in our powers of reaching the best point of view, they have, I hope, diminished neither our admiration of such spectacles, nor our pleasure in each other’s companionship. If, indeed, I have retained my love of the Alps, it has been in no small degree owing to you."

 


The Summit Paintings Past - Gabriel Loppe's 'Sunset on Mont Blanc' (6 August 1873)

The Summit Paintings Present - James Hart Dyke interprets the same view in 2022

In July 2022, James Hart Dyke climbed Mont Blanc to paint from the summit at sunset. His objective was to reenact and emulate as closely as possible the conditions under which Gabriel Loppé (1825-1913), made his pair of summit paintings at sunset in August 1873 in the company of Leslie Stephen.

As one of the leading mountain painters of his generation, Hart Dyke was accompanied by a retinue of guides, a cameraman and climbers as he ascended the Grands Mulets Route. This is a variation of the original l’ancien passage, taken by Jacques Balmat and Dr. Michel Paccard in 1786 on the historic first ascent of Mont Blanc.

Thanks to a weather window and judicious planning James was also able to spend nearly two hours on the summit from 8.15 pm to past 10 o’ clock and paint two pictures in situ. Although there was only a slight breeze, the temperature was between -15 and -20 Celsius.

 'Shadow of Mont Blanc, Sunset' - James Hart Dyke

Now James brings a series of 12 paintings from the climb, including the two works completed on the summit, to the Alpine Club's Charlotte Road exhibition space where the two summit pictures will hang alongside one of the two painted by Gabriel Loppé 150 years ago.

The exhibition will run from 28 November 2023 to 31 January 2024 and is open to visitors from 12:00 – 17:00 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, as well as on London lecture evenings.

Visitors are kindly asked to book in advance by contacting the Alpine Club Office on 02076130755 or by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The official exhibition opening will be held on 5 December. Here, guests will have the opportunity to speak with James and hear him discuss his work in conversation with William Mitchell. The event is open to all, but we aske that you register your intention to attend in advance.

 


The Aiguille du Midi - James Hart Dyke

Mont Blanc - James Hart Dyke

 

John Mitchell Fine Paintings has been exhibiting James Hart Dyke’s paintings since 2002. His work is centred on landscape painting, from the domesticity of paintings of country houses to paintings generated from physically demanding expeditions over remote mountains. James has also undertaken a series of projects including accompanying HRH The Prince of Wales as the official artist on royal tours, working as ‘artist in residence’ for The British Secret Intelligence Service, working as an artist embedded with the British Forces in war zones, working for the producers of the James Bond films and as ‘artist in residence’ for Aston Martin. These projects required him to respond in many different ways and have allowed him to experiment with more graphic forms of painting influenced by his studies as an architect at the Royal College of Art. His portraits have been shown at the National Portrait Gallery and at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibitions.

 

 

 

An Exhibition of Contemporary Mountain Photography

An Exhibition of Contemporary Mountain Photography

In 2023, the Alpine Club held a photo competition amongst its membership to seek out the best mountain photography from the past five years. After receiving over 100 entries, the four winners were selected by professional photographer John Cleare. The winning entries, along with a number of honorable mentions are now on display in the lecture hall at the Alpine Club's Charlotte Road premises.

Grand Gendarme of the Lenzspitze, ENE Ridge at dawn with the Weissmies and Lagginhorn behind by Michael de Csilléry

The exhibition, which also features a number of historic monochrome photographs from the AC collection, will run from 12 September to 19 November and is open to visitors from 12:00 – 17:00 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, as well as on London lecture evenings.

Visitors are kindly asked to book in advance by contacting the Alpine Club Office on 02076130755 or by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A 2024 calendar featuring the winning entires, as well as nine additional photographs from the competition, is available to purchase at the exhibition or online via the Alpine Club Shop.