In the context of this artwork, explore the Construction and installation of the History.
The bull was cast by the Bedi-Makky Art Foundry in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Di Modica spent $360,000 to create, cast, and install the sculpture following the 1987 stock market crash. The sculpture was Di Modica's idea. Having arrived penniless in the United States in 1970, Di Modica felt indebted to the nation for welcoming him and enabling his career as a successful sculptor. Charging Bull was intended to inspire each person who came into contact with it to carry on fighting through the hard times after the 1987 stock market crash. Di Modica later recounted to art writer Anthony Haden-Guest, "My point was to show people that if you want to do something in a moment things are very bad, you can do it. You can do it by yourself. My point was that you must be strong".Another artist, Domenico Ranieri, enlarged the model of the bull and worked with Di Modica to bring out the fine points of the sculpture. In an act of guerrilla art, Bedi-Makky Art Foundry and Di Modica trucked it to Lower Manhattan. Late in the evening of December 14, 1989, they installed it beneath a 60-foot (18 m) Christmas tree in the middle of Broad Street in front of the New York Stock Exchange Building as a Christmas gift to New Yorkers. That day, hundreds of onlookers stopped to see it as Di Modica handed out copies of a flier about his artwork.NYSE officials called police later that day, and the NYPD 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 reinstall it two blocks south of the Exchange, in Bowling Green, facing up Broadway just north of Whitehall Street. Charging Bull was rededicated at its new location with a ceremony on December 21, 1989.
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation Manhattan Whitehall Street impound lot Bull bull Greenpoint, Brooklyn Christmas tree New York Stock Exchange Building guerrilla art Broadway New York City NYPD Broad Street Bowling Green Anthony Haden-Guest Lower Manhattan 1987 stock market crash