MONT BLANC : THE SUMMIT PAINTINGS EXHIBITION 2023

THE PROJECT

On the 8th July 2022 James, supported by a team of climbers led by the world renowned climber Christophe Profit, summited Mont Blanc, in honour of the artist Gabriel Loppé, who painted from the summit in 1873. For over an hour James painted the shadow of Mont Blanc and the sunset. The team followed Loppé’s route up Mont Blanc, now considered dangerous due to the effects of climate change, starting from Loppé’s house in Chamonix.

The project was conceived and organised by the art dealer William Mitchell, of John Mitchell Fine Paintings. He specialises in Alpine paintings and in particular the work of Gabriel Loppé. William is also an experienced climber and was part of the summit team. For over twenty years John Mitchell Fine Paintings have exhibited and promoted the paintings of James Hart Dyke.

In 1873 Loppé, together with the distinguished writer and mountaineer Leslie Stephen, climbed to the summit of Mont Blanc. They arrived on the 6th August, an hour before sunset. As Leslie Stephen observed, Loppé set up his easel and painted the ‘The Shadow of Mont Blanc at Sunset’. The temperature would have dropped dramatically and as they were only the second team to be on the summit at sunset there was an urgency to descend. Twenty years later Leslie Stephen was to write about his experience with Loppé in his book ‘The Playground of Europe’ which was to have a profound influence on the popularity of the Alps.

MONT BLANC : THE SUMMIT PAINTINGS EXHIBITION 2023: Cromwell Place, South Kensington, London. 27th September - 8th October 2023. Curated by John Mitchell Fine Paintings.

THE PROJECT

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