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5-1

These drawings featuring turtles, ears, snails, and rhinoceroses are based on Tanaami’s dreams and memories (cat. 5-1). Images are rendered in layers of fine lines and imbued with a sense of dynamism, as if each of the subjects is transforming into a different creature. The frequent appearance of rhinoceroses in his works from this period is derived from Tanaami’s fascination with an anecdote involving the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer. During the Renaissance there were no rhinoceroses in Europe, and Dürer produced a woodcut based on a sketch of a rhinoceros covered with hard plates, scales, and bumps, unaware that the sketch
was of a particular animal afflicted with a skin disease. Dürer’s depiction was widely reproduced, fostering a mistaken belief among Europeans who had never seen a real rhinoceros that the animals had such skin. Intrigued by this story, Tanaami began incorporating Dürer’s rhinoceros into his own works.