and both tribes still practiced ceremonial face tat-
tooing and blood rituals.
Although many of Riefenstahl’s photographs fo-
cused on the patterns of face tattooing and the
elaborate and beautiful forms of jewelry worn by
the Nuba, it was the blood wrestling that most
fascinated her. During this ceremony, men of a
certain age grappled with each other while wearing
sharp metal bands around their wrists. The results
were often bloody, as documented by Riefenstahl’s
photographs. Not all of her photographs involved
such rituals, however; as many portray the Nuba
going about their daily activities, hunting, fishing,
walking, and laughing. UnlikeOlympia, the photo-
graphs in these compilations seem more natural and
less posed. However, these photographs continued
to display Riefenstahl’s genius for capturing the
artistry of the human body.
Probably due more to her controversial past than
her actual photography, critics largely attacked
these two volumes. In her article ‘‘Fascinating Fas-
cism,’’ Susan Sontag denounced Riefenstahl and
her work:
Although the Nuba are black, not Aryan, Riefenstahl’s
portrait of them is consistent with some of the larger
themes of Nazi ideology: the contrast between the
clean and the impure, the incorruptible and the defiled,
the physical and the mental, the joyful and the critical.Other critics say these collections helped Riefen-
stahl, albeit inadvertently, destroy the Nuba cul-
ture by bringing them to the attention of Europe
and America. They point to the fact that today the
Nuba wear western-style clothing and conduct the
blood fights more for tourist benefit than for
ancient tradition. Despite these attacks, Riefen-
stahl won many accolades for her work in Africa.
Some critics, such as Tomas Elsaesser, have identi-
fied her unparalleled ability to express the innate
beauty of the human body. According to Elsaesser,
‘‘a consistent line runs through her life which seems
to focus on the body as total, expressive fact.’’
In addition to her photographs of sports and
African natives, Riefenstahl was also involved in
sustained photographic projects involving moun-
tains and marine life. In 1987, Leni Riefenstahl
published her memoirs, an international bestseller
that attested to the continuing interest in her extra-
ordinary life as much as her success as a photogra-
pher. The documentary filmDie Macht der Bilder
(The Power of Images) by Ray Mu ̈ller was released
in 1992; under the titleThe Wonderful, Horrible
Life of Leni Riefenstahl. It received an Emmy
Award in the United States as well as the Japanese
film critics special award. In this film, Mu ̈ller tried
to provoke Riefenstahl into admitting guilt for her
past. Her response:
What do you mean by that? Where is my guilt? I can
regret. I can regret that I made the party film,Triumph of
the Will, in 1934. But I cannot regret that I lived in that
time. No anti-Semitic word has ever crossed my lips. I
was never anti-Semitic. I did not join the party. So where
then is my guilt?
Later, in an interview withThe New York Times,
she said: ‘‘I didn’t do any harm to anyone. What have
I ever done? I never intended any harm to anyone.’’
AndrewHowe
Seealso: Documentary Photography; History of
Photography: Interwar Years; Photography in Ger-
many and Austria; Propaganda; Representation and
Race; Sontag, Susan; Underwater PhotographyBiography
Born Berta Helene Amalie Riefenstahl in Berlin, Germany,
22 August 1902. Studied dance and painting in Berlin;
toured Germany and eastern Europe in a dance com-
pany, 1923–1926; actor in Dr. Arnold Fanck’s film com-
pany, 1926–1932; directedTriumph of the Will, 1934;Leni Riefenstahl, German Hammer Thrower Karl Hein at
Berlin Olympics.
[#CORBIS]RIEFENSTAHL, LENI