Fort Battye and Plains of Futtiabad
1879
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1879
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
You see a quiet fort on a dusty plain, soldiers standing in neat rows, and hills stretching far away. The sky is bright, almost white. This isn’t a painting—it’s one of the first photographs ever taken in Afghanistan. John Burke lugged heavy glass plates and a bulky camera across war zones to document the Second Anglo-Afghan War. No action shots were possible then, so he focused on still moments: forts, camps, and the faces of men who fought there. To see more of Burke’s war photos, look up John Burke (Irish, 1845–1915).
