Artwork Page for Ali Musjid and Camp

Details / Information for Ali Musjid and Camp

Series Title: Afghanistan, February 1880

Ali Musjid and Camp

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.m
Public Domain
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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 photograph depicts a valley between steep, rocky mountains. Dozens of white canvas tents are clustered in the lower center near a dry riverbed, surrounded by small figures. A dark, shadowed slope descends from the left, while a sunlit mountain rises sharply on the right. In the middle ground, a domed stone structure stands on a ridge. Rugged, hazy peaks span the distant horizon under a pale sky.

Ali Musjid and Camp

1878–80

John Burke

(Irish, 1845–1915)
Ireland

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