Leni Riefenstahl, 'Five Lives' - my latest aquisition - a few comments

"However the paper is nice and it's stitched. And overall the book has a nice feel to it while it's being carried. Its appearance is nice, too."

Hitler would be so proud, so glad that people still appreciate Leni Riefenstahl's work, such as Triumph of the Will.

You don't have any problems with the fact that she created Nazi propaganda? That Triumph of the Will, which you select for iconic inclusion, was Nazi propaganda?

Best, Helen

Please don't let us start another Nazi/Riefenstahl debate now. This has been debated on several threads earlier.

Karim, do you think you're ready to quit your day job & become a book reviewer?

Helen, a work of art can be appreciated on many different levels. For instance, the Deerhunter is a pack of lies and slanders about the Vietnamese, probably one of the most dishonest films ever made, and yet it is still a masterpiece that never fails to move me deeply whenever I watch it. Art works beyond its merely political dimensions, although I would be the last to say that it is apolitical. That said, I haven't seen Triumph of the Will, so I don't know whether I'd appreciate it or not.

Helen, a work of art can be appreciated on many different levels. For instance, the Deerhunter is a pack of lies and slanders about the Vietnamese, probably one of the most dishonest films ever made, and yet it is still a masterpiece that never fails to move me deeply whenever I watch it. Art works beyond its merely political dimensions, although I would be the last to say that it is apolitical. That said, I haven't seen Triumph of the Will, so I don't know whether I'd appreciate it or not.

"However the tonal values in some images seem lacking in range"

I find this a bizare critisism due to the fact of the age of her work and the fim emulsions and paper available at that time, unless you want them doctored and not a real representation of her work.

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0078CL

Great book.. I gave it away to a good friend, and considered instantly to buy a 2nd..

Alas, politics... Remember photographer Helmut Newton, who has to immigrate from Nazi-Germany as a jew, was a good friend of Leni Riefenstahl...

We appreciate her art since she was a great actress, movie maker, photograph, not as a political person. The allied denazification tribune found out that Riefenstahl wasn't member of *any* political group or Nazi-organisation. Because she did that propaganda-film for Hitler she was famed as a Nazi in post-war Germany for 50 years, didn't get any engagement yet (in opposite to others) because of this one terrible film at a time 4 years before the war when 95% of all Germans were pro-Hitler. It took half a century for the people here to understand that 80 years of an artist was more then "Triumph of the will", which is after all a brillant made film appealing two issues: peace and work, which turned out totally wrong afterwards. This film shows what people (42.7% in Jan.1933) moved to vote for Hitler. History shows how they were mislead. The last one responsible for that crime and tragedy are artists.

just my 2c, Frank (Germany)

Thats a great book.

As has been exhaustively discussed over the years, "Triumph of the Will" is a visual masterpiece, despite its sinister political context. Interesting, too, how its emotional impact remains undiminished, though transformed from "triumphant" to "chilling".

Perhaps inevitably, Riefenstahl's post-war reputation as a still photographer has suffered greatly from her Nazi-connected past. Some of her African work is outstanding, and deserves to be considered on its own merits.