The Alpine Club
55 Charlotte Rd, London EC2A 3QF
20 Feb - 31 Mar 2025
Open to visitors from 10:00 – 16:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as on London lecture evenings.
This show will revive a sadly lapsed tradition of the New English Art Club (NEAC) exhibiting at the Alpine Club. Both organisations have a strong mountain art heritage, with travelling and plein air painting forming a major part of the NEAC’s activities.
The NEAC’s founding members looked across the channel at the French Impressionists and were heavily influenced by their new emphasis on working outdoors, direct from nature. Others looked back a few decades earlier and found inspiration in the travels of their compatriot J M W Turner and especially his pioneering work in the Alps. John Singer Sargent, a founder member, was inspired to travel in Turner’s footsteps and painted in Switzerland.
Many other famous members of the NEAC painted mountain scenery, whether or not this was what one most associates them with. These include Duncan Grant, Winifred Nicholson, Paul Nash, Hercules Brabazon Brabazon, Stanley Spencer, Edward Bawden and the late Fred Cuming.
More recently, current member Neil Pittaway has made a number of trips to the Himalaya, as well as to the Atlas Mountains, and some resulting paintings will feature in this exhibition. In 2019 current NEAC President Patrick Cullen travelled to Nepal to complete the Annapurna circuit, painting and sketching as he went. This expedition spawned a number of larger works, some of which will be included in this show. Many other NEAC members will be taking part, including former President Peter Brown, Toby Ward, Jane Corsellis, Ben Hope, Mary Jackson, Julie Jackson, Alex Fowler, Peter Kuhfeld and Julie Held.
Also joining the exhibition will be outstanding mountain artist and Alpine Club member James Hart Dyke, who has agreed to show some work as an honoured guest of the NEAC.
Visitors are kindly asked to book in advance using the form on the Alpine Club website or by calling 0207 613 0755 so that they can ensure the necessary level of staffing. Failure to do so may lead to you being turned away.
