Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Bull Sculptor Hires Gadfly Norman Siegel To Get Rid ‘Fearless Girl’

Arturo Di Modica, the sculptor of Wall Street’s famous “Charging Bull” statue is not too happy about the competition from the “Fearless Girl.” He announced this week he will be file a complaint with city officials against the upstart piece, claiming that it infringes on his artistic copyright. And he’s getting help from New York gadfly lawyer Norman Siegel.

According to Siegel, the “Fearless Girl” – installed in March for International Women’s Day – alters the atmosphere around the “Charging Bull,” and there can’t be room for both on Manhattan’s Bowling Green. Siegel told the Guardian he would offer more details at a press conference later this week.

The girl statue has been permitted to stay in its current spot until next year, in response to the overwhelmingly positive reception that it has garnered. “Fearless Girl” was the brainchild of investment bank State Street Global Advisors and McCann marketing agency, which presented her as an emblem of women’s empowerment within the financial sector.

Siegel is the former head of the New York Civil Liberties Union – the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union – and has in the past sued the city’s Jewish schools for not including enough secular education. He has also represented a wide cast of the city’s characters, including the organizers of Midtown Manhattan’s SantaCon and Occupy Wall Street protesters.

It’s worth remembering that “Charging Bull” ran afoul of city authorities in its own time. Di Modica first installed the statue in 1987 – in the middle of the night and without a permit – in order to celebrate Wall Street’s resilience. It became a hit, and was then allowed to stay permanently.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.