Masters of Photography | Ernst Haas

Welcome to Episode 2 of DPC’s educational series on the Masters of Photography.

In this episode Danie discusses the creative photography of Ernst Haas and showcases his ability to turn mundane scenes into extraordinary subjects using light and colour.

Background

Ernst Haas was born in 1921 in Vienna, Austria to a Jewish father and an Austrian mother. He grew up fairly affluent due to his father being a high-ranking civil servant. His parents encouraged creativity and his dad loved music and was a keen photographer while his mother wrote poetry and was an aspiring artist. Between 1935 and 1938 Ernst attended a private school and focused his attention on Art, Literature, Poetry, Philosophy and Science.

Unfortunately, in 1938, Austria was invaded by Germany and the school was closed. He was subsequently sent to a German Labour Camp where he worked for up to six hours a day in exchange for two hours of study daily. In 1940 he studied to become a doctor but was forced out of medical school due to his Jewish ancestry after completing only a single year. According to his son, Alexander, Ernst later confessed that he was not a great medical student anyway.

Even though his father was a keen photographer, Ernst was more interested in painting and did not show an early interest in photography. He nevertheless mastered the medium just after he left medical school and also became fascinated by film making.

Early influences and Work

Ernst bought his first camera in 1946 at the age of 25 – a Rolleiflex that he traded on the black market for 20 pounds of margarine; he realised that photography might provide a means of support and open up opportunities to travel, which after painting was his other childhood passion.

Early on in his life Haas was influenced by Werner Bischof and realised that photography can simultaneously be a storytelling document and art. Subsequently, Ernst did a photo assignment, Homecoming, wherein he masterfully captured the happy and sad emotions of prisoners of war meeting their loved ones when disembarking from the train. Homecoming was published in both Heute and Life Magazine. The publication opened new doors and Ernst was asked by renowned war photographer, Robert Capa, to join Magnum Photos. Haas now became part of a small group of elite photographers like Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and the same Werner Bischof whose work influenced him so much. 

Being part of Magnum allowed Ernst to travel the world as he carried out his assignments. In 1950 he was appointed Magnum’s US Vice President and was given US citizenship.

Life after the war

Ernst Haas moved to New York in 1951, choosing to document its streets in rich colour. Saying he would have been “lazy” in Vienna, he described New York as “the city which makes you work and presses everything out of you …” For Haas New York was a real metropolis, a world within a world, a solution within a solution, growing, decaying. There was little that Haas found obvious in this city; its constant change going on day by day, forming, transforming, construction, destruction had a significant impact on his vision.

Ernst Haas. Route 66, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1969

Ernst Haas. Marilyn Monroe on the set of the Misfits, Nevada, 1960

Ernst Haas. White Sands, New Mexico, 1952

Ernst Haas. Priest, Positano, 1953

Ernst Haas. Puritan White, New England, 1960

Ernst Haas. Simple Things

Ernst Haas. The Past in the Present

Ernst Haas. New Orleans, US, 1960

Ernst Haas. New Orleans, US, 1960

Ernst Haas. Reflection, 42 Str, New York, 1952

Ernst Haas. Red Tulips, Japan, 1980

Ernst Haas. Billboard, NYC, 1974

Ernst Haas. New York, 1952

Ernst Haas. Reflection Revolving Door, 1979

Ernst Haas. St Louis, Missouri, 1986

Ernst Haas. New York, 1981

Ernst Haas. New York, 1962

Ernst Haas. Paris, France, 1954

Ernst Haas. Rush Hour, New York, 1980

Ernst Haas. Binoculars, New York, 1952

Ernst Haas. Water Skiing, Florida, 1954

Ernst Haas. Pedestrians 5th Ave, New York, 1953

Ernst Haas. Wet Leaf, Vermont, 1969

Ernst Haas. New Mexico, 1975

Ernst Haas. Po Valley, Italy, 1970

Ernst Haas. Western Skies Motel, Colorado, 1978

Ernst Haas. New York, 1970

Ernst Haas. Frigidaire, New York, 1954

Ernst Haas. New York City

Ernst Haas. Billboard Painter, Broadway, 1952

Ernst Haas. Swimmers, Summer Olympics, Los Angeles, 1984

Ernst Haas. Regatta, California, 1957

Ernst Haas. Traffic, New York City, 1963

Ernst Haas. New York, 1955

Ernst Haas. New York, c 1952

Ernst Haas. New York, 1952

Ernst Haas. New York, 1952

Ernst Haas. Crosswalk, New York, 1980

Ernst Haas. New York City, 1962

Ernst Haas. New York, 1973

Ernst Haas

Ernst Haas. Man Reading on a Plymouth, New York, 1964

Ernst Haas. New York, 1953

Ernst Haas. Shadow On Pavement, Germany, 1977

Ernst Haas. Bullfight, c. 1956

Ernst Haas. London, UK, 1960

Ernst Haas. New York, 1956

Ernst Haas. The Great Railroad.

Ernst Haas. California, 1959

Ernst Haas. Torn Poster, California, 1959

Ernst Haas. New York Reflections

Ernst Haas. New York, 1952

Ernst Haas. Jack London’s World.

Ernst Haas. The Separation, Alabama, 1961

Ernst Haas. New York, 1952