Artist of the day: Artist of the Day, April 10, 2024: Arturo Di Modica, an Italian sculptor (#1994)

Arturo Di Modica (1941 – 2021) was an Italian sculptor, widely known for his Charging Bull sculpture.

Arturo Di Modica was an Italian-born American artist best known for his iconic work Charging Bull (1989). Installed without permission in front of the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, the artist spent his own money producing the three-ton bronze sculpture. Though he intended the work to bolster the American spirit after the 1987 stock market crash, for some it represents a symbol of the ruthless power of financial institutions.

Born in Vittoria, Italy, he left the island of Sicily at the age of 19, to study at the Academia Del Nudo Libero in Florence. In 1973, Di Modica relocated to New York, establishing himself in Lower Manhattan.

Despite the illegal installation of his bull statue, people protested to have it remain in a park near Wall Street. In 2017, the artist Kristen Visbal placed her Fearless Girl statue, depicting a young girl defiantly posed across from Modica’s bull. Unlike Modica’s statue, Visbal’s work was commissioned by State Street Global Advisers, in their public relations campaign to visibly celebrate International Women’s Day. The artist passed away on February 19, 2021 at the age of 80.

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