Major Cavagnari C.S.I. and Sirdars

Series Title: Afghanistan, February 1880

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.hh

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Location

Not on view

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.