Artwork Page for General Roberts and Staff

Details / Information for General Roberts and Staff

Series Title: Afghanistan, February 1880

General Roberts and Staff

1878–80

John Burke

(Irish, 1845–1915)
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Culture
Ireland
Medium
albumen print
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Whitehill Art Purchase Endowment Fund 2024.6.c
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

This album includes some of the earliest photographs of Afghanistan.

Description

The subject of this album is the Second Anglo-Afghan War, which was fought from 1878 to 1880. John Burke was the first photographer to photograph extensively in Afghanistan and the main photographer covering that conflict. The technology of the day did not permit action shots of battles. As is usual for early conflict photography, the pictures are landscapes of the sites of momentous incidents, views of camps and civil and military infrastructure, and portraits of the soldiers and their leaders.
A horizontally oriented albumen print depicts ten men with light skin tones in military uniforms. Centered at a dark table, they sit or stand in diverse poses; one man rests his head on a hand, while another sits cross-legged on a patterned rug with a sword. They wear tunics and tall boots. Fine details capture the carpet's texture and a pith helmet resting near a chair in the lower right.

General Roberts and Staff

1878–80

John Burke

(Irish, 1845–1915)
Ireland

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