Painting with Light

Magnum photographer Ernst Haas was born in Austria and moved to the US in the 50s, rising to fame when his early photo story "Magic Images of the City" was published in Life in 1953. Comprised of an awesome 24-page spread of New York’s storefronts and peeling posters, the series was the first full color visual essay that the magazine had published. Subsequent photo spreads of Venice and Paris for Life drew acclaim from critics, who described his work as "painting with a camera" because of its deliberate use of blurring and saturated color. These images from New York in the 50s show Haas at the peak of his powers, weaving in and out of cabs to catch dream-like vignettes of the bustling city.