Ernst Haas
Overview
Born in 1921 in Vienna, Ernst Haas was encouraged from early childhood to pursue creative endeavors. He studied photography for one semester at the Graphische Lehr und Versuchsanstalt (Graphic Arts Institute), and worked on and off in a photographic studio in the German-occupied Vienna.
Haas’s career in photography began with a Rolleiflex acquired on the black market with 10 kilograms of margarine received for his 25th birthday. In 1949 Capa invited him to join Magnum, where he developed close associations with Capa, Bischof, and Cartier-Bresson. Haas kept working as a freelance producing stories for Heute LIFE, Look, Vogue, Holiday, Esquire, Stern and Geo, and in film production.
Haas is best known for experimenting with the first color films and for his abstract colour works. Convinced of the importance of poetry in photography, throughout his career Haas explored the possibilities of mixing colours by using slow shutter speeds, a style described by critics as “painting with the camera”. He frequently used other techniques such as narrow depth of field, selective focus and blurred motion and, in addition, was also a pioneer of the dye-transfer printing process.
Atlas Gallery is the exclusive representative of the Haas Estate in the UK.
Swimmer, Greece, 1972
C-print
London Palladium, Argyll Street, 1949
Vintage gelatin silver print
9.5 x 11.5 inches
Green Park, London, 1949
Vintage gelatin silver print
Estate stamp on print verso
10 x 11.5 inches
Speaker’s Corner, London, 1949
Vintage gelatin silver print
Estate stamp on print verso
8 x 9 inches
Speaker’s Corner, London, 1949
Vintage gelatin silver print
Estate stamp on print verso
7 x 10 inches
Queen’s Coronation Street Party, London, 1952
Vintage gelatin silver print
Estate stamp on print verso
6.5 x 10 inches
Shaftesbury Avenue, London, 1949
Vintage gelatin silver print
Estate stamp on print verso
8.5 x 11.5 inches
Albert Einstein, Princeton, New Jersey, 1953
Vintage gelatin silver print
9 x 7 inches
Regent Street, London, 1949
Vintage gelatin silver print
Estate stamp on print verso
7.5 x 12 inches
Route 66, Albuquerque, NM, 1969
C-type print
Third Avenue Reflection, New York City, 1952
Dye Transfer Print
20 x 30 inches
Edition of 30
Locksmith Sign, New York, 1952
Dye Transfer Print
16 x 20 inches
Edition of 30
Priest, Positano, 1953
Vintage gelatin silver print
11 x 14 inches
Peeling Paint, USA, 1962
Vintage silver gelatin print
7 x 5 inches
London Docks, 1951
Vintage Dye Transfer Print
19 x 13 inches