1st Ever Pictures Of Combat War Were Of The 2nd Anglo Sikh War - Exhibition Planned

[SaRpAnCh]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/5960918/First-shots-of-combat-photography-in-new-exhibition-of-Crimean-War.html

The pictures are taken from the Crimean War (1848-1856) and the Second Sikh War (1848) by four pioneers of photography, including Roger Fenton.

He was sent to the Crimea by Prince Albert in an attempt to alter public opposition to the war and was told before he departed for the frontline: "No dead bodies."

His pictures were taken on glass plates and processed and printed in a converted wine merchant's horse-drawn wagon. One picture of troops posing shows a group of British and French soldiers enjoying a drink and a smoke in an image called "L'Entente Cordiale".

He was unable to photograph the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade, but documented the cannonball-strewn aftermath of the Valley of Death in 1855.

The work of James Robertson and Felice Beato is also going on show from the Crimean War.

Fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of troops from Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire, it is considered the first "modern" conflict in terms of tactics, weaponry, communications and propaganda.

The earliest images on display are taken by Josh McCosh in 1848 during the war between the Sikh Empire and the British Empire in the Punjab.

The National Army Museum will be showcasing the work in the exhibition First Shots: Early War Photography 1848–1860 at the White Space Gallery in Chelsea, west London, next month

A spokesman said: "First Shots will document war photography in its infancy. Using some of the earliest photos in the museum's collection it will explore what drove its pioneers, the technical, social and environmental pressures which shaped their work and the impact which the images they produced had upon culture and society".