Charging Bull
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Charging Bull (sometimes called the Wall Street Bull or the Bowling Green Bull) is a 3,200 kg (7,000 pound) bronze sculpture by Arturo Di Modica that sits in Bowling Green park near Wall Street in New York City.
The sculpture depicts a bull, the symbol of aggressive financial optimism and prosperity, leaning back on its haunches and with its head lowered as if ready to charge.
Di Modica spent some US$ 360,000 to create, cast, and install the sculpture following the 1987 stock market crash as a symbol of the "strength and power of the American people."[1] The sculpture was the artist's idea, not the city's. In an act of "guerrilla art", he trucked it to Lower Manhattan and on December 15, 1989, installed it in front of the New York Stock Exchange as a Christmas gift to the people of New York.
The police seized the sculpture and placed it into an impound lot. The ensuing public outcry led the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to install it two blocks south of the Exchange in the plaza at Bowling Green. It faces up Broadway.[2]
The sculpture, one of the city's most photographed artworks, has become a tourist destination in the Financial District. It has also come to be an unofficial symbol of the Financial District itself, and it often appears in the local news media to punctuate stories about optimism in the financial market.
In 2004, Di Modica announced that the bull sculpture was for sale, on condition the buyer does not move it from its present location.
Di Modica continues to own the copyright to the statue. In 2006, Di Modica sued Wal-Mart and other companies for illegally benefiting from his copyright, by selling replicas of the bull and using it in advertising campaigns.[3]
Stockbrokers are said to rub the testicles of the bull for good luck.[4] According to a Washington Post article in 2002, "People on The Street say you've got to rub the nose, horns and testicles of the bull for good luck, tour guide Wayne McLeod would tell the group on the Baltimore bus, who would giddily oblige."[5] The polished sheen of the statue's testicles is evidence of the popularity of this practice.
[edit] References
- ^ D. McFadden, Robert (1989-12-16). SoHo Gift to Wall St.: A 3 1/2-Ton Bronze Bull. New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-10-01.
- ^ Wall St.'s Bronze Bull Moves 2 Blocks South. New York Times (1989-12-20). Retrieved on 2007-10-01.
- ^ "Sculptor of Manhattan 'Charging Bull' statue sues Wal-Mart, others to protect its image", Associated Press, 2006-09-21. Retrieved on 2007-07-20.
- ^ Bostock, Cliff, "First look: Cuerno / A taste of Spain comes to Atlanta", restaurant review, Creative Loafing, January 30, 2008, accessed May 4, 2008
- ^ Duke, Lynn, "The Pilgrimage To Ground Zero — Officials and Tourists Walk A Fine Line on Solemn Ground", Washington Post, February 27, 2002, Edition F, page C1, accessed via newsbank.com subscription archive website (also on High Beam Reasearch subscription archive website) on May 4, 2008
[edit] Further reading
Durante, Dianne, Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan: A Historical Guide (New York University Press, 2007): on the Bull's creation and current legal status.
[edit] External links
- Charging Bull is at coordinates Coordinates:
