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FAHEY / KLEIN GALLERY LENI RIEFENSTAHL THE NUBA
(Left) David Fahey, Ken Devlin exhibit Leni Riefenstahl's NUBA
Despite the anxiety-inducing location of Fahey/Klein Gallery in the middle of one of the most traditional Jewish communities of greater Los Angeles, Ken Devlin (co-owner of the Gallery, who's spouse is the "Klein" reference in the shop's name) says that there has been nothing but community support for this unique presentation of Leni Riefenstahl's Nuba photography. Concerns beyond the neighbors seemed of a much more pressing nature as the mid-September opening of the nation's inaugural showing of Riefenstahl's work loomed ever closer. The Riefenstahl prints arrived later than they had hoped , there was an ugly Internet based threat of legal action or protest to keep the show from opening, and the opening itself was plagued with parking problems and other logistical issues including the Gallery's Nuba exhibit catalogue which was rushed in from the printers at the last moment. In the end, Devlin says the opening night party was a great success as incoming gallery patrons enthuse to him openly about Leni Riefenstahl and her Nuba work a month into the show. The little bit of public notoriety over exhibiting photos by Leni Riefenstahl aimed at Fahey/Klein Gallery was in the end more of a whimper than a bang. A few letters, emails and a couple of one-day picketers. Devlin stated that he actually had some interesting correspondence with those who chose to express a dissenting view, "They were all polite and were just glad that we acknowledged their unhappiness with the idea of exhibiting Riefenstahl's work." This seemed to appease them and nothing more was heard. These minor incidents certainly did not stop the Los Angeles Times, which had already fallen under some heavy criticism for running a huge column one article on Leni Riefenstahl's 100th birthday the month before, from writing that the Nuba exhibit was an artistic success regardless of what one thought of Riefenstahl's legacy and that the prints were, well, simply gorgeous. The Times says that these are "prints whose lush colors capture the stark...mirage-like shimmer of Saharan sunlight."
Both Devlin and artist / co-owner David Fahey seemed to be basking in the success of it all. Fahey reports that he is in ongoing contact with Riefenstahl and her production crew in Germany regarding sales and the many favorable reviews of the show. The Gallery has also been asked by Taschen books (which assisted in creation of the huge mural photos for the exhibit) to display the upcoming compendium box set of Leni Riefenstahl's African photography. Taschen hopes to sell a limited issue of 2,500 signed copies at an initial price of $1,250. Beautiful and impressive though this book was (I was allowed to look through a sample book, numbered as "0000") I could hardly wait to get back to the real thing in the gallery. A total of 30 photographs, each with a limited edition of 15 , hand-pulled and signed by Riefenstahl, are on display in both the small and larger gallery halls. Additionally, five massive mural blow ups of several of the exhibit's key prints are on display as well. Perhaps, more than the content, which was very familiar to me, I noticed the incredible use of color, texture and artisanship. In some of the prints, the background is completely abstracted to mere color by Riefenstahl in her use of lenses and film stock selection. "I took most of my photographs with an open diaphragm," Leni Riefenstahl wrote in People of Kau. " I did this in a deliberate attempt to blur the background as much as possible, thereby enhancing the pictorial effect and emphasizing the subject itself." This forces the subject (mostly individual Nuba) to the foreground with an impressive immediacy which is missing in all reproductions found in the printed books of her Afrika work (sorry, even in the new Taschen book).
These are not your father's National Geographic photos, either. The people as rendered are imbued with an inherent and natural sensuality. A whole and natural person with a comfort in one's essence, one's body. This is something Riefenstahl has captured in her work and may well be part of where the criticism comes. Some claim she cajoled or bought off the attention of these people to obtain "posed" shots, yet even a passing review of this work indicates that the people in these images have not been manipulated. The images appear immediate and unstaged. Often in fact, the shots are of people who at the time (depending on which tribe is profiled) were not always welcoming to Riefenstahl or her camera. That display of aggression, sexuality, nomadic innocence or the life as ritual, defined by one-to-one conflict or beautification of the human form is on display in these well chosen prints. Yet, these are not rendered as Susan Sontag would have one believe in her infamous and lingering 1970's Fascinating Fascism review of the Nuba work. The photos impress one not just in their being powerful images of the human body, but of the human. Human being's that are so "essential" in their appearance, stance and behavior. No wonder that Riefenstahl referred to them as people from an outlying star, not of our contemporary or even historical world.
The exhibit of Leni Riefenstahl's Nuba photography continues from September 12 through October 19, 2002 at the Fahey/Klein Gallery. A beautiful soft cover, hard-box covered exhibit catalogue is available at the gallery. http://faheykleingallery.com/home.htm
FAHEY/KLEIN GALLERY 148 North La Brea Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90036-2912 323-934-2250 phone |
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