Isidore Jules Bonheur (French, 1827-1901)
UN TAUREAU ET UN OURS (BULL AND BEAR)
Bronze with a rich green/brown patina, 30" x 41 1/4"
Signed I. Bonehur, inscribed with the Peyrol Foundry seal
Offered here is one of the truly exceptional works in the entire catalogue of Bonheur’s work. One of only two known examples of this subject in this size, it is a very rare piece and quite possibly the only one that will ever be available on the market again.
There is no doubt Bonheur is one of the great Animalier sculptors of the 19th century. Known primarily for his equestrian bronzes, he rarely ventured outside that subject, making this an even more unique piece. The impetus behind Bonheur’s subject of a bull and bear battling has never been explained (perhaps deeper investigation is in order). One prominent theory is that it represents England (the bull), and Russia (the bear), in their struggle with each other in the Crimean War, which ended in 1856, the year before Bonheur exhibited this work at the 1857 Paris Salon. Though another theory has taken root—a theory in which the bronze represents the two icons of the stock market—the bull and the bear, and their competing ideology. The bull anticipates the rise of the market so he can sell high, while the bear hopes for the market to drop so he can buy low. This theory as it applies to Bonheur’s bronze gained traction due to the story of its twin cast.
The only other cast of this bronze has quite a history of its own. Exhibited at the International Exhibition in St. Louis in 1904, by 1924 it was either purchased by a group of traders or donated to the Luncheon Club of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Regardless of how it arrived, there it sat until 2006, prominently displayed on the seventh floor of 11 Wall Street. The Luncheon Club itself had been a Wall Street fixture since 1898 until it was forced to close its doors in 2006. The New York Times described the club as “where Wall Street meets to eat.” Every day, superstitious traders would rub the bull on the horns and genitals for luck, so much so that the patina in those areas differs from the rest of the bronze. After the close of the club, LaBranche & Co., one of the oldest fixtures on the NYSE, reportedly acquired the bronze for $2 to 3 million according to sources close to the deal. It is currently on loan to the American Museum of Finance where it can be seen on display today and visitors are encouraged to rub the same areas the traders did.
Bonheur first exhibited his Bull and Bear in 1857 along with several other works that were cast in plaster. A sculpture he himself thought highly of, he again exhibited this subject at the Exposition Universelle in 1900.