Reading response: “The Rhinoceros from Durer to Stubbs 1515-1799” and “A People’s Art History of the United States"

The way that we see and understand the world nowadays is extremely distant from the way that our ancestors experienced the world around them. The unseen world was an attraction to everybody and the cause of many misconceptions and fantastic creations, shifting us away from reality. In my opinion, both readings, “The Rhinoceros from Durer to Stubbs 1515-1799” and “A People’s Art History of the United States”, have a magic realistic connection. They both talk about the unreal vs. the real world through the representation of different perspectives, as well as our irresistible desire of believing in the fictional.

In the first reading, “The Rhinoceros from Durer to Stubbs 1515-1799”, the author T. H. Clarke shows us the different points of views in which a rhinoceros has been interpreted. In a time where technology was no more than a utopia, information would travel in more archaically ways. As a consequence, such poor and, sometimes, not truthful ways would limit some people from reality, creating an open field to fantasy. No wonder why all these beautiful interpretations of the Lisbon rhinoceros were based on drawings and writings describing the animal and not on a real model. The exotic outcomes from Durer to Francesco Granacci drawings show a variety in levels of imagery.

In the second reading, “A People’s Art History of the United States”, Nicolas Lampert talks about the divergent points of view of two great photographers, Edward S. Curtis and George L. Beam. Even though their photographs were based on the Indian American people, they are extremely different. I think that the major condition for this to happen was that they had different ways of approaching to that culture. Curtis’s photographs represent the perspective of a white man that only sees the nostalgic disappearance of a culture within another. Meanwhile, Beam’s photographs reflect the perspective of an Indian that, like the rest, is assimilating a modern era. Curtis’s photographs were retouched and manipulated, while Beam’s photographs were a true documentation of reality.

On the other hand, the fictitious world is an important element that prevails in both readings. Durer’s drawing of the fantastic rhinoceros has had such a great impact that for decades many people wanted to believe the version that he created and not the real one. Furthermore, Curtis’s manipulated photographs were successfully received and believed to be a truthful documentation of the life of Native people. I think that this shows how attracted we are to fiction sometimes, and the way that we would like to camouflage reality.