The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 17, 2026

A horizontally oriented sepia-toned albumen print depicts a rugged mountain pass. In the foreground, two men with medium skin tones stand on a rocky slope wearing turbans and tunics; one carries a long staff. Below them, a stone fortification with a circular tower sits in a dusty clearing. Steep, scrub-covered mountains rise sharply in the background, their craggy, textured peaks filling the upper half of the composition under a pale, hazy sky.

Kuta Kushta

1878–80

John Burke

(Irish, 1845–1915)
Ireland
albumen print
Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Whitehill Art Purchase Endowment Fund 2024.6.s
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=Kuta Kushta|url=false|author=John Burke|year=1878–80|access-date=17 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

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