Charging Bull

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Charging Bull

Charging Bull , also known as the Wall Street Bull or Bowling Green Bull called, is a bronze statue by the Italian-American artist Arturo Di Modica (* 1941), which in Bowling Green Park in the Financial District in Manhattan , New York City is. It was originally set up as street art .

description

The statue has a weight of 3.5 tons and is 3.4 meters high with a length of 6 meters. The bull is supposed to symbolize the aggressive financial optimism and success through his aggressive demeanor. The statue is considered a Wall Street landmark and is a popular tourist destination.

history

Arturo Di Modica worked on Charging Bull in his artist workshop on Crosby Street in Soho for over two years . It was his most ambitious and massive piece of work on a sculpture ever. The bull is so big that it had to be cast in separate bronze pieces and then welded together and completed by hand. The sculpture was finished at the end of 1989. In the early hours of Friday, December 15, 1989, Di Modica and a few friends had the Charging Bull parked on Broad Street right in front of the New York Stock Exchange . The night before, he had scanned the immediate area with a stopwatch and found that the police patrol came every five to six minutes. So he knew that he had to put the bull down in four and a half minutes and get away himself. But on the scheduled morning of the operation, Di Modica and his crew discovered that during the day the NYSE had installed a large Christmas tree blocking the path. Di Modica couldn't even turn the truck. So he decided to put the Charging Bull under the tree as a gigantic Christmas present for the city and the world. The next day the Charging Bull hit the news around the world, and massive crowds of onlookers and media gathered. The sculpture was removed by NYSE at the end of the day , but thanks to Park Commissioner Henry Stern, Mayor Ed Koch, and Arturo Piccolo of the Bowling Green Association, the Charging Bull was permanently parked nearby at the Bowling Green . The Charging Bull, considered a talisman for Wall Street traders and a source of pride for all New York City residents , stands to this day and has been visited by millions of tourists.

For a period of one week on March 8, 2017 at midnight, “not six meters away”, the bronze statue of a girl, created by Kristen Visbal , was erected, who opposed the Charging Bull . The sculpture is titled Fearless Girl . Di Modica saw his rights as an artist violated and criticized that “Fearless Girl” was changing his work “Charging Bull” and distorted it into a symbol of male chauvinism .

meaning

Arturo Di Modica sees the Charging Bull as an opportunity to embody the do-it-yourself spirit of America and especially New York. He is a symbol of these places where people from all over the world come regardless of their origin and can become successful through determination and hard work. Di Modica saw this symbol of masculinity and courage as the perfect antidote to Black Monday of 1987.

Other versions

In the Chinese port city of Ningbo there was a deceptively real copy of the Charging Bull. Di Modica said: “I'm pissed off! This cop is for the American people and New York and nobody else unless someone is paying a lot of money. ”More specifically, a million dollars. Di Modica set up a second Charging Bull in Shanghai in May 2010 ; it looks younger and stronger.

A third version of the bull was set up in Amsterdam on July 4th 2012 by Di Modica. Di Modica: “It would be good for everyone in Europe to have some kind of motivation from the mascot, because Europe is in an economic crisis. Think positive, together we will do it! "

Sale of the Charging Bull

In 2004 Di Modica auctioned the bull for a minimum bid of five million dollars . A Las Vegas casino showed interest until it was made clear to the casino that the bull could not be moved from its location and the owner would be recognized with a badge.

Trivia

Web links

Commons : Charging Bull  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ^ Johanna Bruckner: A fearless girl against the male dominance of the financial world. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. March 8, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Christina Wallace: We All Love 'The Fearless Girl.' But What About Fearless Women? In: Forbes. March 8, 2017, accessed March 11, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Renae Merle: "'Fearless Girl' ignites debate about art, Wall Street and the lack of female executives" Washington Post, April 20, 2017
  4. ↑ http://chargingbull.com/chargingbull.html
  5. ↑ An artist in the bull trap Die Welt from March 1, 2007, accessed on February 10, 2016
  6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iszwuX1AK6A accessed September 30, 2015
  7. ↑ http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/wallstreet/chargingbull/?cam=chargingbull_hd October 11, 2015

Coordinates: 40 ° 42 ′ 20.1 ″  N , 74 ° 0 ′ 48.3 ″  W.