Leni Riefenstahl interviewed by Kevin Brownlow
"If Leni Riefenstahl had done nothing but visit Africa and bring back her photographs, her place in history would be secure."
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Leni feared that the catastrophe which had overwhelmed the Native American and the Australian aborigine would soon destroy the Nuba. As she wrote; "Whenever the dark side of civilization spreads out, human happiness disappears." (p. 558)
Back in Germany, her photographs of the Nuba were printed in Stern magazine in December, l969, and soon they appeared in an impressive book, published in America and France as well as Germany. She took the book to show the Nuba but when she arrived, she found her paradise destroyed. The Nuba were as affectionate as ever, and their old friends much the same, but the others came asking for medicine, tobacco, beads, batteries, sunglasses... And they all wore filthy, tattered clothes, "worse than the garb of beggars in European slums." (p. 588)
"When I showed them the pictures of what they'd looked like when they were still wearing no clothing, they were suddenly ashamed. They had been persuaded that this was bad."
On this expedition, Horst thought Leni mad; she was determined to find a more distant Nuba tribe called the Kau, and despite lack of fuel and the fact that no maps existed for the area, they pressed ahead. The heat was furious, the journey uncomfortable, but they were rewarded by "an unusual and thrilling tableau" (p. 591)
"In the final rays of the setting sun," wrote Leni, "very slender figures moved in balletic grace to the beat of the drums. The girls were completely naked, oiled all over, and painted different colours ranging from red to ochre and yellow. Their movements were seductive and became wilder and wilder...The dancers hadn't noticed me, since I was concealed behind a tree trunk, photographing with long telephoto lenses...For me, this was the greatest visual experience I have ever had during any of my African expeditions." (p. 591)
They were also able to photograph a zuar (knife-fight); it was the hope of seeing one that led Leni to embark on this expedition in the first place.
"The Kau don't wrestle; it was more of a fight with blades on their arms-(brass p. 592). No one had ever photographed them before. No other tribe in the entire world fights with these (brass) rings. There is nothing like it anywhere else in the world. For me, as a photographer, it was sensationale. And no other people in the world are as gifted at painting masks. What the indigenous peoples do in New Guinea by comparison is primitive, but the Kau Nuba were artists. Their masks are art."
She discovered these masks in another village, Nyaro. "A young boy's body was fantastically painted, like a leopard, and his face reminded me of a Picasso. To my surprise, he raised no objections to being photographed, and soon I discovered that he was not the only one painted in such an unusual way; young men came towards me from everywhere, with faces like stylized masks." (p. 593)
"Did they ever object to being photographed?"
"The Mesakin Nuba never. They were far better friends, anyway. There was a big difference between the Mesakin Nuba and the Kau. Some of the Kau Nuba did refuse. The work with the Kau Nuba was very, very difficult. No, what I saw I photographed. Everything was forbidden anyway. Everything was a struggle at Kau."
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
Leni feared that the catastrophe which had overwhelmed the Native American and the Australian aborigine would soon destroy the Nuba. As she wrote; "Whenever the dark side of civilization spreads out, human happiness disappears." (p. 558)
Back in Germany, her photographs of the Nuba were printed in Stern magazine in December, l969, and soon they appeared in an impressive book, published in America and France as well as Germany. She took the book to show the Nuba but when she arrived, she found her paradise destroyed. The Nuba were as affectionate as ever, and their old friends much the same, but the others came asking for medicine, tobacco, beads, batteries, sunglasses... And they all wore filthy, tattered clothes, "worse than the garb of beggars in European slums." (p. 588)
"When I showed them the pictures of what they'd looked like when they were still wearing no clothing, they were suddenly ashamed. They had been persuaded that this was bad."
On this expedition, Horst thought Leni mad; she was determined to find a more distant Nuba tribe called the Kau, and despite lack of fuel and the fact that no maps existed for the area, they pressed ahead. The heat was furious, the journey uncomfortable, but they were rewarded by "an unusual and thrilling tableau" (p. 591)
"In the final rays of the setting sun," wrote Leni, "very slender figures moved in balletic grace to the beat of the drums. The girls were completely naked, oiled all over, and painted different colours ranging from red to ochre and yellow. Their movements were seductive and became wilder and wilder...The dancers hadn't noticed me, since I was concealed behind a tree trunk, photographing with long telephoto lenses...For me, this was the greatest visual experience I have ever had during any of my African expeditions." (p. 591)
They were also able to photograph a zuar (knife-fight); it was the hope of seeing one that led Leni to embark on this expedition in the first place.
"The Kau don't wrestle; it was more of a fight with blades on their arms-(brass p. 592). No one had ever photographed them before. No other tribe in the entire world fights with these (brass) rings. There is nothing like it anywhere else in the world. For me, as a photographer, it was sensationale. And no other people in the world are as gifted at painting masks. What the indigenous peoples do in New Guinea by comparison is primitive, but the Kau Nuba were artists. Their masks are art."
She discovered these masks in another village, Nyaro. "A young boy's body was fantastically painted, like a leopard, and his face reminded me of a Picasso. To my surprise, he raised no objections to being photographed, and soon I discovered that he was not the only one painted in such an unusual way; young men came towards me from everywhere, with faces like stylized masks." (p. 593)
"Did they ever object to being photographed?"
"The Mesakin Nuba never. They were far better friends, anyway. There was a big difference between the Mesakin Nuba and the Kau. Some of the Kau Nuba did refuse. The work with the Kau Nuba was very, very difficult. No, what I saw I photographed. Everything was forbidden anyway. Everything was a struggle at Kau."
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Leni Riefenstahl - Africa
Hardcover + Box, 34.5 x 50 cm (13.6 x 19.7 in.), 564 pages
$ 4000.00
$ 4000.00
Leni Riefenstahl's remarkable Africa oeuvre. Limited edition of 2,500 copies worldwide, each numbered and signed by Leni Riefenstahl
