CAPTAIN JOHN BAPTIST LUCIUS NOEL (1890-1989) Among the Siraco Rongbuk Glacier. Oversize carbon print, the image measuring 14 3/4x17 inches (37.5x43.2 cm.), the sheet 18 3/4x23 1/2 inches (47.6x59.7 cm.), with the typed Mt. Everest Committee copyright on recto and the title in pencil in an unknown hand on verso. 1922
Provenance: Yushodo Co., Tokyo
George Herbert Leigh Mallory (1886-1924) took part in the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest, first in 1921, then 1922 (on this ascent he reached a record altitude without oxygen), and finally in 1924, when he disappeared. His body was discovered in 1999.
John Noel was the official photographer of both the 1922 and 1924 expeditions to Mt. Everest, using both still and film cameras. He led an unauthorized expedition into Tibet in 1913 in an attempt to chart the route to Everest and became the first European to get within forty miles of the mountain before he was turned back by Tibetan forces. Later, in order to join Mallory's expeditions, Noel resigned his commission in the army. He received the last communication from Mallory as he set out on his final fatal ascent.
