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Ernst Haas (March 2, 1921–September 12, 1986) was a photojournalist and a pioneering color photographer. During his 40-year career, the Austrian-born artist bridged the gap between photojournalism and the use of photography as a medium for expression and creativity. In addition to his prolific coverage of events around the globe after World War II, Haas was one of the earliest innovators of color photography. His images were widely disseminated by magazines like Life and Vogue and, in 1962, were the subject of the first single-artist exhibition of color photography at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. He served as president of the prestigious cooperative Magnum Photos, and his book The Creation (1971) was one of the most successful photography books ever, selling 350,000 copies.

Early Life and Education
Haas was born in Vienna, Austria, on March 2, 1921. He was the son of Ernst Haas, a high-level civil servant, and Frederike Haas-Zipser. His older brother was named Fritz.

Haas was raised in the grand cultural climate of Vienna prior to World War II. His parents, who placed great value upon education and the arts, encouraged his creative pursuits from an early age. They also had their own artistic interests; while his father enjoyed music and photography, his mother wrote poetry and had aspired to be an artist herself. Haas became so proficient in painting and drawing that eventually his teachers had him act as a judge, rather than a participant, in artistic competitions among his peers. As a painter, he had particular interest in an artwork’s formal qualities, and developed a refined sense of composition and perspective.

From 1935 to 1938 Haas attended LEH Grinzing, a private school in Vienna, where he studied art, literature, poetry, philosophy, and science. World War II interrupted his formal education in 1938, when the school was closed following Germany’s invasion of Austria. The following year, Haas received his diploma from Rainier Gymnasium.

In order to continue his studies during the war, Haas joined the Labor Service of the German army, working six hours a day in exchange for two daily hours of school attendance. He managed to leave the service in 1940, he returned to Vienna to study medicine. Haas was only able to complete one year of medical school before laws changed, and Haas was forced out as a result of his Jewish ancestry.

Introduction to Photography
Haas was uninterested in learning photography as a child, though his father—an avid amateur—tried to share his interest. Upon his father’s death in 1940, however, Haas first entered the darkroom, learning to print old family negatives. His interest grew, and he soon began to take his own photographs.

Though his formal education was complicated by the war, Haas was an autodidact and worked tirelessly to learn the medium. In 1941 as the “school photographer” of the Max Reinhardt Film Seminar, he managed to attend technical classes and developed a lifelong interest in filmmaking. Haas also took advantage of his family’s extensive library, as well as museums and libraries in Vienna. He studied philosophy and poetry, in particular, both of which informed Haas’s beliefs about the creative potential for photography.

A Poet’s Camera (1949), which combined poetry with metaphoric imagery by artists like Edward Weston and Eliot Porter, was particularly important to Haas’s early development. Many of his first extant photographs—close-ups of plants, water, and natural forms—reflect its influence.

Unsure of his career path, Haas realized that photography could provide both a means of support and a vehicle for communicating his ideas. He obtained his first camera in 1946, at the age of 25, trading a 20-pound block of margarine for a Rolleiflex on the black market. Of the decision, he later said,

In 1947 Haas presented his first exhibition at the American Red Cross in Vienna, where he had a part-time position teaching soldiers photography. Taking a portfolio of his work to Zurich, he drew the interest of Arnold Kübler, an editor for the seminal magazine DU. After reviewing his photographs, Kübler introduced Haas to Swiss photographer Werner Bischof’s images of Berlin after the war. Bishof’s work was a revelation; inspired by its example, Haas began to consider how an image could simultaneously tell a story and function as an autonomous work of art. When Haas returned home, he similarly documented the war’s effects in Vienna, approaching the city as a serious reporter with a keen but empathetic eye. His photographs show the endurance of the human spirit despite the devastated urban environment.

Haas’s photographic output matured rapidly. He earned assignments from magazines like Heute, often working with fellow correspondent Inge Morath. In 1947, while scouting locations for a fashion shoot, Haas and Morath witnessed prisoners of war disembarking a train and began documenting their arrival. Haas’s images show the anticipation and grief of people searching for their lost relatives among the survivors. The resulting photo essay, “Homecoming,” was published in both Heute and Life magazine.

Magnum Photos
Warren Trabant showed Robert Capa, a renowned war photographer, Haas’s “Homecoming” photographs before they were published. Upon reviewing his work, Capa invited the young photographer to travel to Paris, where he was invited to join the new international photographic cooperative Magnum Photos (“Magnum”), then two years old. Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, David “Chim” Seymour, Werner Bischof, and William Vandivert were already members.

At the same time, Haas was also offered a staff photographer position at Life. Forced to choose between two extraordinary opportunities, he decided he did not want to be limited by Life’s restrictive scope. As a Magnum photographer, Haas would have autonomy over the stories he decided to tell and where he traveled. Describing his decision in a letter to Life editor Wilson Hicks, Haas wrote “What I want is to stay free, so that I can carry out my ideas... I don’t think there are many editors who could give me the assignments I give myself...”

United States of America
After carrying out assignments in Vienna and London, Haas conceived of an extensive project about America. Visas to the United States were difficult to obtain, but in 1950 Robert Capa appointed Haas Magnum’s U.S. Vice President. With this position, Haas was able to obtain the proper documentation, and he arrived in New York in May of that year. The first images Haas took in the United States showed fellow immigrants arriving at Ellis Island. They showed people in transition, coming to an unfamiliar place and beginning a new life.

By the time of Haas’ arrival, the streets of New York had already become a popular subject for photographers who sought to document all aspects of life. His approach was less direct and confrontational than that of such contemporaneous colleagues as Lisette Model or William Klein. Wrote critic A.D. Coleman, “[Haas] was a lyric poet pursuing a photographic equivalent of gestural drawing, utilizing such photographic effects as softness of focus, selective depth of field, and overexposure to telling effect.”

While Haas would continue traveling the world for his work, he lived for the rest of his life in the United States.

Assignments for Life Magazine
In 1952 Haas hitchhiked across the United States to White Sands National Park in New Mexico, planning to photograph Native Americans. He was enchanted by the landscape and its unusual colors, different than anything he had experienced before. Working with the vast area’s changing light and clouds, Haas also photographed symbols, local details, and tourist oddities. His finished photo essay, published by Life as “Land of Enchantment” in a six-page spread, was well-received by readers and prompted the magazine to invite another project. According to writer (and early Magnum employee) Inge Bondi, Haas’ Western chronicle was the first major story he created based on his own instinct and at his own financial risk.

Once back in New York, Haas purchased color film to begin a new project in the city. He had experimented with color as early as 1949, but this would be his first opportunity to work seriously with what was still a scarce and expensive medium. Haas spent two months photographing New York, and in 1953 Life published his vivid images. Titled “Images of a Magic City,” the sprawling 24-page story spanned two issues. According to critic Andy Grundberg, these images “brought photography into the precincts of abstract expressionism.”

Technique and Innovations in Color Photography
Though Haas continued to use black-and-white film for much of his career, color film and visual experimentalism became integral to his photography. He frequently employed techniques like shallow depth of field, selective focus, and blurred motion to create evocative, metaphorical works. He became interested in, as he put it, "transforming an object from what it is to what you want it to be." Beyond the physical place, person, or object he depicted, Haas hoped to reflect the joy of looking and of human experience.

Haas supported his adventurous personal work with commercially viable photojournalism, advertising, and motion picture stills photography. While on such assignments, he would make his own photographs simultaneously, translating his passion for poetry, music, painting, and adventure into groundbreaking color imagery. His reputation on the rise, Haas traveled the world, photographing the U.S., Europe, South Africa, and Southeast Asia in expressionistic color.

In the late 1940s, Haas switched from his medium format Rolleiflex to the smaller 35mm Leica rangefinder camera, which he used consistently for the rest of his career. Once he began working in color, he most often used Kodachrome, known for its rich, saturated colors. To print his color work, Haas used the dye transfer process whenever possible. An expensive, complex process most frequently used at the time for advertising, dye transfer allowed for great control over color hue and saturation.

As the technology of color photography evolved and improved during this period, audience interest in color imagery increased. Many of the magazines that published Haas’ work, such as Life, improved the quality of their color reproduction, and increasingly sought to include his groundbreaking work in the medium. Despite this progress, many photographers, curators, and historians were initially reluctant to consider color photography as art, given the technology’s commercial origins.

Leadership of Magnum
In 1954 Robert Capa, Magnum’s first president, was killed while on assignment covering the First Indochina War. That same year, Werner Bischof died in a car accident in the Andes. Following their deaths, Haas was elected to Magnum’s board of directors and traveled to Indochina himself to cover the war.

After the death of David “Chim” Seymour in Suez in 1959, Haas was named the fourth president of Magnum. He made significant and lasting contributions to the organization as its leader. Haas had a deep understanding of the cooperative’s mission and encouraged the members of Magnum to strive for excellence and innovation. In a letter to the members of Magnum, he wrote:

Exhibitions
In 1962 the Museum of Modern Art in New York (“MoMA”) presented a ten-year survey of Haas’s color photography. Titled Ernst Haas: Color Photography, the exhibition marked MoMA’s first solo-artist retrospective exhibition dedicated to color work, and took place during Edward Steichen’s final year as director of the museum's Department of Photography. It was realized by Steichen’s successor John Szarkowski, and consisted of approximately 80 prints including Haas’s motion studies and color essays. Of Haas’ revelatory color imagery, Steichen has said, “He is a free spirit, untrammelled by tradition and theory, who has gone out and found beauty unparalleled in photography.” Though an exhibition checklist survives for Haas’ show, no exhibition catalogue was produced at the time of the exhibition.

In 1976 John Szarkowski would shock the world of photography by championing the color work of William Eggleston, whose exhibition has famously and erroneously been hailed as MoMA’s first exhibition of color photographs.

Prior to his solo exhibition at MoMA, Haas had been included in Steichen’s groundbreaking exhibition The Family of Man, which premiered in 1955 and traveled to venues in 38 countries.

Advertising and Stills Photography
Haas was a respected stills photographer for many films, including The Misfits, Little Big Man, Moby Dick, Hello Dolly, West Side Story, Quest for Fire, and Heaven’s Gate. John Huston employed Haas as a second-unit director for his 1966 film The Bible: In the Beginning (a.k.a. The Bible), to visualize the section devoted to creation.

In addition to editorial journalism and unit stills work, Haas was also highly regarded for advertising photography, contributing groundbreaking campaigns for Volkswagen automobiles and Marlboro cigarettes, among other clients.

The Creation and Other Publications
Haas was inspired and fascinated by the natural world, took photographs of the elements throughout his career. Inspired in part by his involvement in John Huston’s 1966 film The Bible, Haas conceived an ambitious, multi-year project to visualize the theme of the earth’s creation, as described in a variety of religious texts, primarily in the Old Testament. His book The Creation, first published in 1971, featured 106 color photographs made all over the world, organized into an expressive, poetic sequence. Ultimately The Creation was produced in multiple editions in numerous languages through 1988, selling over 350,000 copies to become one of the best-selling photography books of all time.

Haas also issued the monographs In America (1975), In Germany (1977), and Himalayan Pilgrimage (1978).

In 1980 Haas published a limited-edition portfolio of dye transfer prints from The Creation with Daniel Wolf Press. He also began work on a book devoted to Japan and a project illustrating the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, whose writings inspired him throughout his life.

Posthumous books featuring Haas’ photographs include: Ernst Haas: Color Photographs (1989); Ernst Haas in Black and White (1992); Ernst Haas (Photo Poche), 2010; and Ernst Haas: Color Correction (2011).

Television Appearances and Teaching
In 1962, the year of his retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, Haas was invited to write and host The Art of Seeing, a four-hour miniseries for National Public Television, then in its first year. Newsweek magazine praised its success as a television program, for Haas combined seeing with hearing. Throughout the series, Haas demonstrated what makes a successful photograph, illustrating how images can be transformed by the slightest variations of technique, perspective, or choice of tools and materials.

Haas also taught frequently at photography workshops, including the Maine Photographic Workshop in Rockport, the Ansel Adams Workshop in Yosemite National Park, and the Anderson Ranch Arts Center near Aspen, Colorado.

Personal Life and Family
In 1951 Haas married the Hungarian Countess Antoinette Wenckheim. They later divorced, and in 1962 Haas married Cynthia Buehr Seneque, an American editor. They had two children, Alexander and Victoria.

Gisela Minke, a German-born airline stewardess, was Haas’s companion for many years. She encouraged his interest in Tibet, and their travels resulted in the book Himalayan Pilgrimage. Six years before his death, he met Takiko Kawai, who he credited with introducing him to the culture and traditions of Japan.

Late Life and Death
In the early 1970s Haas became interested in creating audiovisual slideshows—long sequences of projected imagery with accompanying soundtracks, dissolving from one image into the next. "I love music," he explained, "and with my audiovisual presentation I can combine music and photography.” [NEED SOURCE FROM HAAS WEBSITE]

After suffering a stroke in December 1985, Haas concentrated on layouts for two books he wanted to publish, one featuring his black and white photographs and surveying his color photographs. At the time of his death from a stroke on September 12, 1986, he had been preparing to write his autobiography.

Legacy and Selected Awards
In 1958, Haas was listed as one of the 10 greatest photographers in the world by Popular Photography magazine, along with Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alfred Eisenstadt, Philippe Halsman, Yousuf Karsh, Gjon Mili, Irving Penn, and W. Eugene Smith.

Haas’s importance to the field of photography was cemented in 1986, when he won the prestigious Hasselblad Award just prior to his death. Over his 40-year career, Haas established a remarkable legacy. His abstract aesthetic, use of color, and innovative use of technology remain vital and influential.

A number of awards have been created in Haas’s honor, including the Ernst Haas Award for Creative Photography by the American Society of Magazine Photographers (ASMP); and the Ernst Haas Photographers Grant, funded by Kodak, at the Maine Photographic Workshops. In 1998 the Ernst Haas Studio archive was sent to London to be housed at the Hulton Getty Picture Library as part of a licensing agreement with Getty Images. In 1999 the Ernst Haas Memorial Collection was established at the Portland Museum of Art in Maine.

The Ernst Haas Estate is operated by his children, Alexander Haas and Victoria Haas.

Public Collections
Provincial Museum Voor Kunstambachten, Antwerp, Belgium New Zealand Center for Photography, Auckland, New Zealand Royal Society of Photography, Bath Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, US Mint Museum of Fine Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, US The Exchange National Bank of Chicago, Illinois, US Museum Ludwig, Cologne Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation, Goteborg, Sweden The National Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan International Center of Photography, New York The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The Museum of Modern Art, New York Philip Morris Companies, Inc., New York Citibank Art Collection, New York Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US Reader's Digest, Pleasantville, New York Squibb Corporation, Princeton, New Jersey, US International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House, Rochester, New York, US Kimberly-Clark Corporation, St. Louis, Missouri Saint Louis Arboretum, St Louis, Missouri Museum of Fine Art, St Petersburg, Florida Rupertinum Salzburger Museum, Salzburg, Austria Western States Museum of Photography, Santa Barbara, California National Museum of Art, Tokyo Museum Modern Kunst, Vienna Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C., US

Notable Portrait Subjects
Woody Allen Yul Brynner Robert Capa Montgomery Clift Jean Cocteau Joan Collins Sean Connery Tony Curtis Dino De Laurentis Vittorio De Sica Kirk Douglas Albert Einstein Helen Frankenthaler Clark Gable Judy Garland Cary Grant

Richard Harris Howard Hawks Audrey Hepburn John Huston Gene Kelly Martin Luther King, Jr. Eartha Kitt Vivien Leigh Anatole Litvak Sophia Loren Arthur Miller Robert Mitchum Marilyn Monroe Nehru New York City Ballet Richard Nixon

Gregory Peck Robert Redford Carol Reed Jason Robards Sugar Ray Robinson Arthur Rubinstein George Bernard Shaw Frank Sinatra Igor Stravinsky Barbra Streisand Herbert Von Karajan Orson Wells Richard Widmark Natalie Wood