After a long fight against cancer, the Italian sculptor Antonio Di Modica died at the age of 80 last Friday, February 19, at his home in Sicily, Italy. Di Modica may not be known by name, but his masterpiece, Charging Bull (1989) or Wall Street Bull, is internationally recognizable in its location in Bowling Green, one of the oldest parks in New York, surrounded by the famous skyscrapers of the great capital of economy and art.

Jacob Harmer, director of Geist Modern Contemporary, a British art buying and selling agency that represented Di Modica in 2012, says that the artist was always a very ambitious person, eager to work and make his way in the cultural community, even if it was through illegal or unconventional means.

Secretly moving to Florence at the age of 18, Di Modica studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and set up his own metal foundry to work on his sculptures. But after a flood in the city destroyed all of his work, the young artist decided to try his luck in the United States. Feeling that his work was not receiving the recognition he sought, in 1977 Di Modica placed 8 of his sculptures in Rockefeller Center in the early hours of the morning for people to see. Di Modica was not arrested for his actions, but he earned a cover in The New York Post that helped launch his career.

But it wasn't until Black Monday happened in 1987 that Di Modica was inspired to work on his best-known work. Witnessing first-hand the fall of the New York stock market and the recovery of the United States economy, Antonio thought about creating a sculpture which he could honor the country that made his career as an artist grow. With “Charging Bull” Di Modica sought to represent the strength and resilience of the American community in times of adversity.

After investing 2 years of work and $350,000, Di Modica used the same method as in 1977 to present his work: one December night he placed his 3.5-ton work in front of the New York Stock Exchange building, under a huge Christmas tree, as if it were a gift to the city. On this occasion the work was confiscated, and the artist had to pay $500 USD to recover it, but his daring was once again rewarded: the New York Department of Parks, with the authorization of then-Mayor Ed Koch, offered him a permanent spot for the bull at Bowling Green Park, where it remains to this day.

In 2017, the famous bull returned to the center of attention after the financial firm State Street Global Advisor commissioned the artist Kristen Visbal to create the “Fearless Girl” sculpture, which consisted of a girl in a brave attitude holding the bull's gaze. Although the combination of both works was very well received by the international community as a symbol of the feminist movement, Di Modica expressed his disagreement with the proposal, claiming that "Fearless Girl" changed the interpretation of his bull, presenting him in a villainous role, altering the tribute message that the artist made for the country. Eventually, "Fearless Girl" was relocated.

The sculpture is today one of the many symbols that represents New York's culture and people. Over the years it has been both a tourist spot and an object of protests, and although it has been debated that the work should be relocated to guarantee its safety, the sculptor was always firm with his intention for it to remain in its current location. After all, the Bull of Wall Street will always be his legacy to the country that admired him and believed in him as an artist.

With information from Artnet News.