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Unsigned German-language book: Schönheit im Olympischen Kampf [Beauty in the Olympic Games] by Leni Riefenstahl. First edition. Berlin, Germany: Deutschen Verlag, 1937. Cloth-bound hardcover, 9.5 x 12.5, 281 pages with 273 black-and-white photographs. The art book is heavily illustrated with full-page gravures of Riefenstahl's photographs of the Berlin 1936 Summer Olympics, beautifully portraying the athletes, ceremonies, and venues. In very good condition, with light soiling to boards and foxing to textblock edges; an image of a discus thrower has been cut from the absent dust jacket and loosely laid in.
Filmmaking and photography took a prominent role in the celebration of the 1936 Games, with Leni Riefenstahl producing a pioneering documentary, Olympia. Using advanced technical effects—including slow motion, extreme angles, underwater shots, panoramic aerial shots, and fast-tracking systems—her work set the standard for sports photography in the 20th century, and has continued to be a major influence in documentary filmmaking.
