Ernst Haas
1921–1986 · Austria / United States
Making colour a language.
The story
Ernst Haas began in post-war Vienna before joining Magnum and settling in the United States. He explored colour at a time when it was often confined to commercial uses. Reportage, movement and abstraction intersect in his work. He treated colour as a way of constructing rhythm and sensation rather than a descriptive supplement added to compositions that could remain unchanged in black and white.
Understanding the work
Compare sharp images with deliberately blurred motion. Relationships between colours sometimes carry the subject, even when documentary details fade or become hard to recognise.
Key works and series
Photo essays for LIFE; The Creation; photographs of movement.
Sources & further exploration
Works in collections.
10 recordsPhotographs to explore on museum and library websites, with titles, dates and processes. Each link opens the collection record and its image where one is available.
