Untitled (Group of Men)

1879

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Impressionism Realism Late 19th Century Ireland

Dominant colour

Untitled (Group of Men) is a 1879 by John Burke, a Impressionism work, depicting Ireland, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: John Burke
When & what style?: 1879 · Impressionism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a black-and-white photo of four soldiers standing in a row, rifles slung over their shoulders. This isn’t a painting—it’s an early war photograph. John Burke was one of the first to document conflict this way, but cameras then were too slow for battle scenes. Instead, he captured quiet moments like this, showing the faces of men who fought in a war far from home. To see more of his work, look up John Burke (Irish, 1845–1915).

The story of this work

Overview

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.