Ernst Haas. Letters & Stories

Ernst Haas: Letters & Stories by Inge Bondi sheds light on the life of her friend, the Austrian-American photographer Ernst Haas (1921-1986). Haas was a pioneer in color photography, whose innovative use of shutter speed created motion images that transformed reality into poetry. In appreciation of his innovative style, Haas was the first artist to have a solo show of color photography at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1962.

The book has a focus on Haas' most innovative years and holds Bondi's unique vision. She shares with us her first-hand experiences, witnessing the creative growth in Haas' work and increasing appreciation it enjoyed in this rapidly expanding field of photojournalism and illustrated magazines in post-war America and Europe. Bondi combines her recollections with Haas' letters, poems, photographs, and reproductions of ephemera to narrate Haas's extraordinary life journey, including his 40-year photography career.

Among others, the book's thirteen chapters cover the events surrounding Haas's work: "Homecoming Prisoners of War" (1947), which prompted Robert Capa to invite him to join Magnum Photos; the published reportages in Life and Vogue from around the world, including blurred motion bullfighting images, the dances of Bali, the saturated images of New York City; the film sets of The Misfits, West Side Story, as well as The Bible (1966). The latter prompted the publication of Haas's seminal photobook The Creation (1971), one of the most successful photography books in history. "Ernst Haas: Letters & Stories" is in itself a letter from Bondi to Haas.

As such, it has the sensitivity and clarity true to a friendship. Ernst Haas and Inge Bondi first met in the newly-opened Magnum's office in New York in 1951, shortly after both of them arrived in New York as European migrants.