The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 15, 2026

A horizontally oriented albumen print photograph depicts a desert landscape with five people with medium-dark skin tones on a rocky ridge at our right; one holds a long rifle pointed upward. Below, another person descends a slope with a long pole over their shoulder. To our left, two adults and a child stand together on a sandy plain. Low stone fortifications crown hills beneath distant mountains and a pale sky.

Jellalabad, Pipers Hill

1878–80

John Burke

(Irish, 1845–1915)
Ireland
albumen print
Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Whitehill Art Purchase Endowment Fund 2024.6.kk
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.
  • ?–2023
    (Adnan Sezer Gallery, Paris, France), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    December 4, 2023–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Jellalabad, Pipers Hill|url=false|author=John Burke|year=1878–80|access-date=15 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.6.kk