Artwork Page for Fort Battye and Plains of Futtiabad

Details / Information for Fort Battye and Plains of Futtiabad

Series Title: Afghanistan, February 1880

Fort Battye and Plains of Futtiabad

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.oo
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 horizontal albumen print depicts an undulating landscape of rocky plains in warm, sepia tones. In the middle ground, a low-walled enclosure with pale structures sits amidst the barren earth. Dark slopes in the foreground descend into a central ravine, while distant, hazy mountains recede into a pale sky. The composition emphasizes the vast horizon, with detailed rocky textures in the foreground fading into soft, atmospheric tones in the distance.

Fort Battye and Plains of Futtiabad

1878–80

John Burke

(Irish, 1845–1915)
Ireland

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