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.

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.