Shergai Heights, Looking Towards Ali Musjid
1879
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1879
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
You see a dry, rocky hillside with a few tents and soldiers standing near a stone wall. The sky is hazy, and the light looks flat, like an old photograph. This isn’t a painting—it’s one of the first photos taken during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. John Burke lugged heavy cameras and glass plates across rough terrain to document the conflict. Because the tech was slow, he couldn’t shoot battles, so he framed quiet moments instead. If you want to see more early war photography, look up John Burke (Irish, 1845–1915).
