Bronze Cow

While vacationing with his family in Zurich, Switzerland in 1998, Chicago shoe store owner Peter Hanzig saw “Land in Sicht,” a public art display of artificial cows. Following his return to the United States, he contacted Lois Weisberg, commissioner of cultural affairs for the City of Chicago, about creating something similar in the Windy City. The result was “Cows on Parade,” a temporary outdoor public art exhibit that promoted Chicago businesses, supported local artists, and helped charitable organizations. An area business would pay approximately $3,500 to sponsor a cow and the City would select a local artist to decorate it anyway they saw fit. Consequently, no two cows were the same. For their labor, artists would receive $1,000 from the money used to sponsor the faux bovine. By the middle of summer 1999, over 300 life-sized fiberglass cows graced Chicago’s sidewalks, plazas, and public parks. When the exhibit ended, the cows were auctioned off and the proceeds were donated to charity. The auction house Sotheby’s estimated that the cows would bring in a few hundred thousand dollars total, but when the auction ended the decorated fiberglass bovines netted roughly three and a half million dollars. 

Aside from all the good it did for Chicago, its residents, and charitable organizations, “Cows on Parade” ignited a national public art trend. In the years after the Chicago exhibit, several dozen cities across the country held similar public art exhibits. The nation’s capital hosted “PandaMania,” Anchorage, Alaska organized “Wild Salmon on Parade,” Cincinnati, Ohio arranged “The Big Pig Gig,” and Bloomington, Illinois held “Corn-on-the-Curb.” The public art craze even reached north of the border to Toronto, Ontario. Published in 2007, American Art Parades documents how American cities took inspiration from the Windy City’s “Cows on Parade” and created their own unique public art displays.  

To commemorate the successful exhibit and elicit fond memories of it, Hanzig commissioned a sculpture of a life-sized bronze cow and donated it to the City of Chicago. Installed permanently near the entrance to the Chicago Cultural Center in 2001, the bronze cow measures eight feet in length, four and a half feet in height, and weighs about 2,500 pounds. Incised into its eyes are images of the Chicago Water Tower and Pablo Picasso’s untitled Daley Plaza sculpture. 

In 2019, to mark the twentieth anniversary of “Cows on Parade,” Hanzig organized “Cows Come Home.” An outdoor public art exhibit held in Chicago’s Jane Byrne Park, it featured about twenty of the original fiberglass cows, including the ones owned by Hanzig and his brother. The exhibit ran throughout the month of July 2019.

Johnson, Steve. "Chicago's 'Cows on Parade' is back for July, celebrating 20-year anniversary with one last roundup." Chicago Tribune. 28 June 2019. Web. 2 April 2021 <https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-ent-cows-on-parade-20-year-anniversary-ttd-0701-20190628-zjz2qwbfrncgnlvaioqdyqtkae-story.html>.

Stein, Letitia. "City asks: 'How now, bronze cow?'" Chicago Tribune. 14 November 2001. Web. 2 April 2021 <https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-11-14-0111140124-story.html>.

"The Bronze Cow." Chicago Public Art: One of the Most Comprehensive Guides to Outdoor Public Art in the City of Chicago. Web. 2 April 2021 <http://chicagopublicart.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-bronze-cow.html>.