This collection of striking color images from the American West is both a moving national
portrait as well as a celebration of analog color photography from an undisputed genius of the
form. The photographer behind Life magazine's first ever all-color photographic essay Ernst
Haas made-and captured-history as an early adapter of Kodachrome film. The Austrian-born artist
had already established himself as a black and white photographer when he moved to America in
1951. But as a member of the renowned Magnum agency he transformed the genre with his
color-saturated images the perfect medium for capturing America's geographic and cultural
landscapes. From desert storms Route 66 gas stations and Las Vegas neon to rolling prairie
dilapidated farms small-town parades and city sidewalks Haas' perfectly composed images
contain a distinct pictorial language suffused with poetry pattern and light. At the same
time his pictures communicate a journalist's point of view whether the subject is rural
poverty suburban comfort or the myth of the American West. The remarkable book offers a
vision of America that feels both poignantly distant and reassuringly familiar.
