Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/philip-wilson-steer-1990" aria-label="More by Philip Wilson Steer" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Philip Wilson Steer</a>
Swiss Alps at Earls Court Exhibition
Purchased 1942
actions: postures and motions
adults
architecture
blossom
Earl’s Court
England
exhibition: Earl’s Court Exhibition, 1887
figure
hall
history
interiors
landscape
landscape
mountain
objects
path
people
places
politics and society
public and municipal
townscapes / man-made features
toys and models
UK countries and regions
UK London
walking
<p>The Earl’s Court Exhibition of 1887 was the first of four, devoted in turn to America, Italy, France and Germany. The ‘Alps’ were the painted backdrop to the display about America which owed much of its success to Colonel Cody’s (‘Buffalo Bill’) Wild West Show. Steer’s use of sombre colours and decorative surface pattern echoes the work of Whistler and Japanese prints. In the following year he began to adopt the style and technique of the French impressionists, and painted a series of beach scenes in luminous colours.</p><p><em>Gallery label, November 2016</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
8 August 2001 – 21 April 2003
2003-04-21
8 August 2001 – 21 April 2003
2003-04-21
2001-08-08
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-08-08
French Influence on British Art
Collection based display
5 November 2012 – 20 July 2014
2014-07-20
5 November 2012 – 20 July 2014
2014-07-20
2012-11-05
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-11-05
Gallery 9
Collection based display
7 August 2014 – 24 July 2022
2022-07-24
7 August 2014
2014-08-07
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2014-08-07
Gallery 9
Collection based display
The Swiss Alps at the Earl’s Court Exhibition
support: 641 × 762 mm
frame: 685 × 850 × 55 mm
Purchased 1942
<div class="text">
<p>The Earl’s Court Exhibition of 1887 was the first of four, devoted in turn to America, Italy, France and Germany. The ‘Alps’ were the painted backdrop to the display about America which owed much of its success to Colonel Cody’s (‘Buffalo Bill’) Wild West Show. Steer’s use of sombre colours and decorative surface pattern echoes the work of Whistler and Japanese prints. In the following year he began to adopt the style and technique of the French impressionists, and painted a series of beach scenes in luminous colours.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2016-11-15T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N05375</b> THE SWISS ALPS AT THE EARLS COURT EXHIBITION 1887</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Not inscribed.
<br/>Canvas, 25 1/4×30 (64×76).
<br/>Purchased from Christie's (Knapping Fund) 1942.<br/><i>Coll:</i> Steer Sale, Christie's, 16 July 1942 (135), bt. Nicholson for the Tate Gallery.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> National Gallery, June–August 1943 (87).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> MacColl, 1945, pp.106, 190; John Rothenstein, <i>Modern English Painters: Sickert to Smith</i>, 1952, pp.64–5.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> Ironside, 1943, pl.2.</p>
<p>Painted in 1887. The Earls Court Exhibition of 1887 was the first of four held there, one each being devoted to America, Italy, France and Germany in that order. The American exhibition owed much of its success to the appearance of Colonel Cody's (‘Buffalo Bill’) Wild West Show. In his card-index Collins Baker describes the picture thus: ‘Figures walking across foreground, lanterns festooned above; peaks of the switchback railway Alp scenery.’ This seems to clear up the apparent incongruity of Swiss alpine scenery appearing in an exhibition devoted to America. A fun fair existed at Earls Court for many years, and the famous Big Wheel at the Prater, Vienna, came originally from Earls Court in 1906.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-07-21T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults architecture blossom Earl’s Court England exhibition: Earl’s Court Exhibition, 1887 figure hall history interiors landscape landscape mountain objects path people places politics and society public and municipal townscapes / man-made features toys and models UK countries and regions UK London walking