Artwork Page for Ali Musjid and Surroundings

Details / Information for Ali Musjid and Surroundings

Series Title: Afghanistan, February 1880

Ali Musjid and Surroundings

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.p
Public Domain
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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 vertically oriented drawing in sepia-toned ink on paper depicts a rugged mountain landscape. In the foreground, dark, craggy rock faces jut forward. A central hill, crowned with stone walls and buildings, rises above a wide, flat valley where a small domed structure sits. Winding paths lead through the terrain. Massive, textured peaks fill the background under a pale sky, their surfaces detailed with fine lines conveying the rocky, desolate atmosphere.

Ali Musjid and Surroundings

1878–80

John Burke

(Irish, 1845–1915)
Ireland

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