Synopsis
Ernst Haas is one of the best-known, most prolific and most published photographers of the 20th century. He is famed for his vibrant color style, which, for decades, was much in demand by the illustrated press. This work, published in the most influential magazines in Europe and America, also produced a constant stream of books, and these too enjoyed great popularity. But although his color work earned him international fame, in recent decades it has been derided as "overly commercial" or not sufficiently "serious." Yet there was a side of Haas’ work almost entirely hidden from view: parallel to his commissioned work, he made images independently, images far more edgy, loose, complex, ambiguous and radical than the work for which he is famed. Hass never printed these pictures in his lifetime, nor did he exhibit them, perhaps believing that they would not be understood or appreciated. This volume, intended to "correct" the record, compiles these photos of great complexity for the first time in print.
Ernst Haas (1921–86) was an Austrian-born artist who enjoyed a 40-year career as a photojournalist and creative photographer. A self-trained photographer, Haas first began to photograph his native Vienna in the aftermath of World War II. He published in various magazines before joining Magnum Photos, of which he would eventually become president. In 1950 Haas traveled to New York for a project and remained there for the rest of his life. The Museum of Modern Art presented a ten-year survey of his color photography in 1961―its first solo-artist retrospective dedicated to color work.
About the Author
Ernst Haas was born in Vienna in 1921, and took up photography after the war. His early Austrian work on returning prisoners of war brought him to the attention of Life Magazine, but he courageously declined a job as staff photographer in order to keep his independence. At the invitation of Robert Capa, Haas joined Magnum in 1949, developing close associations with Capa, Bishof and Cartier-Bresson. He began experimenting with colour, and went on to become the premier colour photographer of the 1950s. In 1962 New York's Museum of Modern Art mounted its first solo exhibition of his colour photography. Haas's books were legion, and one The Creation (1971) sold 350.000 copies. Ernst Haas received the Hasselblad award in 1986, the year of his death.
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