Artwork Page for Safed Sang River and Old Bridge

Details / Information for Safed Sang River and Old Bridge

Series Title: Afghanistan, February 1880

Safed Sang River and Old Bridge

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.nn
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 sepia-toned albumen print depicts a panoramic landscape with a wide, rocky riverbed curving toward the center. On the right, a row of leafy trees stands atop a tall, eroded dirt bank. Stone bridge ruins are featured in the middle ground near the winding water. High, snow-covered peaks span the distant horizon under a pale sky. The composition emphasizes textured surfaces of scattered stones and craggy, weathered earth throughout the scene.

Safed Sang River and Old Bridge

1878–80

John Burke

(Irish, 1845–1915)
Ireland

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