HAAS, ERNST

born March 2, 1921, Vienna, Austria died Sept. 12, 1986, New York, N.Y., U.S. Austrian-born photojournalist, influential primarily for his innovations in colour photography. As a youth Haas's interests were divided between medicine and painting, but after World War II he abandoned both in favour of photography. His early photographs were experimentations in abstract light and form, showing the influence of the Swiss photographer Werner Bischof. When in 1947 Haas became a staff photographer for the picture magazine Heute, he developed his own photojournalistic style. His first notable photo story, Returning War Prisoners, led to an invitation to join Magnum Photos, a prestigious international photojournalists' agency. Soon after that, he photographed The Miracle of Greece, a photo story that gained him an international reputation. In 1950 Haas moved to New York City, and in 1953 he made the photo-essay New York for Life. Although these pictures were the first he had made in colour, Haas used colour so originally that Life gave the essay a 24-page spread, an unprecedented length for a colour photo-essay. Colour essays on Paris (1955) and Venice (1956) followed and met with similar success. In the essay on Paris, Haas first experimented with the effects of camera motion on colour still photography. In 1962 Haas was given a one-man show of colour photographs at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The following year his first photographic book, Elements, was published. These photographs of natural forms show a renewed interest in abstract design. This book was followed by The Creation (1971), In America (1975), In Germany (1977), and Himalayan Pilgrimage (1978).