Bull Statue Views

General Goods

After the stock market crash of 1987, Italian-American artist Arturo Di Modica decided he wanted to give the city a gift representing a“the strength and power of the American people,a” according to writer Fran Capo. So he sculpted a 7,100-pound, 11-feet-tall, 16-feet-long bronze statue of a charging bull.

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.[8] In 2009, Di Modica sued Random House for using a photo of the bull on the cover of a book discussing the collapse of financial services firm Lehman Brothers.[9]

As soon as the sculpture was set up at Bowling Green, it became an instant hit .[11] One of the city's most photographed artworks, it has become a tourist destination in the Financial District. [I]ts popularity is beyond doubt , a New York Times article said of the artwork. Visitors constantly pose for pictures around it. Adrian Benepe, the New York City parks commissioner, said in 2004, It's become one of the most visited, most photographed and perhaps most loved and recognized statues in the city of New York. I would say it's right up there with the Statue of Liberty. [1] In 1993, Arthur J. Piccolo, chairman of the Bowling Green Association, made the same point with the same comparison.[11] Henry J. Stern, the city parks commissioner when the statue first appeared in the Financial District, said in 1993: People are crazy about the bull. It captured their imagination. [11]

The statue's popularity with tourists has a very international appeal. One 2007 newspaper report noted a ceaseless stream of visitors from India, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Venezuela and China, as well as the United States. Children enjoy climbing on the bull,[13] which sits famously [5] at street level on the cobblestones at the far northern tip of the small park. One popular tourist guidebook assumes that a visitor will want to get his or her picture taken with the statue ( after you pose with the bull [...] ).[14] A popular Bollywood movie, Kal Ho Naa Ho features the bull in a musical number, increasing its familiarity with Indians. One visitor told a newspaper reporter it was a reason for his visit.[3]