About the Collection
Since its foundation in 1857, there have always been members of the Alpine Club who have carried sketchbooks into the mountains, keeping a record of their endeavours and the peaks they climbed. Following its move to Savile Row, the Alpine Club began to hold exhibitions, and an art collection was formed. With the subsequent move to South Audley Street, members' exhibitions continued, alongside shows of mountain paintings by other dealers and galleries. Since 1991, the Alpine Club has been based at Charlotte Road in Shoreditch, and the collection now numbers around 600 paintings, many of them gifts or donations to the club.
The collection is overseen by the club's Keeper of Paintings. The current Keeper is William Mitchell.
What's in the collection?
The Alpine Club’s collection is of considerable artistic and historical importance; it includes work by E. T. Compton, Albert Gos, Gabriel Loppé, Colin Bent Phillip, John Ruskin, T. Howard Somervell and Elijah Walton. There is also a growing collection of work by contemporary artists, including Julian Cooper and Neil Pittaway. Everest pioneer Dr Charles Warren donated four watercolours by John Ruskin and left a further three to the Club in his Will.
There is also a substantial holding of watercolours and pastels of Everest made by the surgeon and mountaineer Dr Howard Somervell (1880–1975). Works from the collection have travelled widely to UK galleries and museums, including Tate Britain and Abbot Hall Gallery, Kendal, and to venues in Berlin, Madrid, Grenoble and Turin.
Viewing the Collection
Some of the collection can be viewed online.
- ArtUk has a sample of the most popular paintings and flower illustrations by Hooker
- The Watercolour World has our watercolour paintings and sketchbooks. These can be searched by location so are ideal if you are researching historical images of a particular place.
Works are also made available to view through regular club exhibitions.
If you want to see works from the collection for research purposes please contact our librarian at library@alpineclub.org. They will be able to direct you to the appropriate department and/or arrange a viewing.
Purchasing Prints
A portion of the Club's artistic collection is available to view on-demand via ArtUK. These high-quality stills, produced from the original works, are also available to purchase as framed prints via the ArtUK website. The funds raised from sales go back into the Alpine Club Library, enabling us to preserve and curate our collection.
Alpine Club Shop
If you're in the market for something smaller by way of a gift or memento, our shop includes greeting cards and calendars featuring photos and paintings from our collection, as well as pieces from contemporary mountain artists.
Also available for purchase is 'The Artists of the Alpine Club', a compendium of AC artists and their works, compiled and written by Peter Mallalieu and featuring some of the finest examples from our archive.