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AS OUT-OF-PRINT FRENCH EDITION: SLIGHTLY BUMPED BUT ORIGINALLY SEALED
Background information, book review
"As art, film stills are often overlooked. The photographers tend to be anonymous; it’s easy to imagine their work done by the director or cinematographer. Their images are often lumped in with the promotional machinery: Whether documenting the stars frolicking on set or getting down to business, it’s just another form of salesmanship. Which is why the work of Ernst HAAS is so striking. As one of the 20th century’s great photojournalists and image-makers – an early member of the great Magnum Photos cooperative who was famous enough in his prime to have been the subject of a Museum of Modern Art exhibit in 1962 – he was also a regular on movie sets. It was a necessity in those early days, said John Jacob, the editor of a new book, 'On Set' ('Cinéma' as French version), on the movie photography by Ernst HAAS. 'Working on film sets was really important to Magnum, and all of the photographers working with Magnum in the ’50s did films,,' says Jacob, 'not only did the work pay off financially, but the photographers also established relationships with members of the industry'. (...) The photographers 'are definitely producing work for posterity, that very much has their own fingerprint on it,' he says. Such distinction is obvious from looking at Haas’ work – some of which is as famous as the movies he worked on: There’s a striking picture of Orson Welles in 1949’s 'The Third Man,' hemmed in by the darkness in a way that suggests the shadowy themes of the classic film. Another, of Gregory Peck and Chuck Connors in 1958’s 'The Big Country,,' is as dramatic as any full-scale movie duel. The Austrian phtographer worked with a variety of eminent directors—from Vittorio de Sica to John Huston, Gene Kelly and Michael Cimino—and depicted cinema genres from suspense ('The Third Man', 'The Train') to the Western ('The Oregon Trail', 'Little Big Man'), and from comedy ('Miracle in Milan', 'Love and Death') to musicals ('West Side Story', 'Hello Dolly!'). He inscribed a temporal, filmic dimension into his stills which, viewed in a sequence, generate movement and narrative. So accomplished was his mastery of color, light and motion that Ernst HAAS was frequently asked to photograph large group actions—from the battle scenes of 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' and the dances of 'West Side Story', to the ski slopes of 'Downhill Racer'. 'On Set / Cinéma' elucidates a novel perspective on the sets and stars he photographed, and reveals a little-known but crucial dimension of his oeuvre." (CNN/Steidl, 2015)
Content
"This book, 'Cinéma / On set', considers the film stills of Ernst HAAS, one of the most accomplished photographers of the twentieth century, transgressing the borders between still photography and the moving image." (© Stedl Verlag, 2015)