| Vanishing Africa | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Leni Riefenstahl |
| Original title | Mein Afrika |
| Illustrator | Leni Riefenstahl |
| Country | United States, Germany |
| Language | English (translated), German |
| Genre(s) | Illustrations |
| Publisher | List (Germany) Harmony(US) |
| Publication date | 1982 |
| Published in English |
1982 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 232 |
| ISBN | ISBN 051754914X |
| OCLC Number | 8587687 |
| Dewey Decimal | 779/.99676 19 |
| LC Classification | DT365.19 .R53 1982 |
| Preceded by | Korallengärten |
Vanishing Africa is the title of the 1982 English-language translation of German film director Leni Riefenstahl's 'Mein Afrika', an illustrations book published in the same year in Germany. It was published by Harmony Books in the United States.
Contents |
The pictures are an evidence of the passion for Africa. In his book The Green Hills of Africa, Ernest Hemingway wrote, 'All I wanted now, was to get back to Africa. I had not left it yet, but when I awake at night I was lying and listening full of homesick for it.'
Therefore, these pictures may be the last attempt to catch something of Africa's soul before it will lose its innocence to the technical age.[1]
The photographs were recently republished along with those of The Last of the Nuba and The People of Kau in the 2002 book, Africa by Leni Riefentstahl. As a result the collection garnered fresh professional reviews that were generally positive;
"A big, black Mercedez-Benz of a book.... Ideology aside, the pictures are hard to resist, combining all the voyeuristic pleasures of National Geographic-style anthropology with an unequivocal appreciation of the innate grace and symmetry of the human form... Riefenstahl`s photographs preserve a mythic vision of this Eden before the fall, a romantic lost world, captured in images as powerfully seductive as the artist herself." V Magazine[2]
"A magnificent collection and a fitting celebration of this formidable artist's 100th birthday." The Times Higher Education Supplement[2]
"an imposing collection". Newsweek[2]
Together with her other published photographs of the Nuba, several photographs from the book were showcased in the 1993 documentary, The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl. For the first time, Riefenstahl's extensive moving footage of the Nuba was also shown to the public for the first time in the film.
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