Giant bull that towers over Spain's motorways gets a redesign (2024)
Holidaymakers who have driven across Spain will be familiar with the imposing black bull silhouettes that loom over its motorways.
Known as the Osborne bulls after the drinks company founded by a British family in 1772, they were first used to advertise brandy but today are a symbol of Spain.
The simple, but brilliant, design by artist Manolo Prieto in 1956 has inspired filmmakers, photographers like Helmut Newton and the guitar company Gibson, which made a famous SG guitar out of a sherry cask.
In 2005, the Spanish government banned advertising along road sides but declared the Osborne bull a national cultural symbol.
To mark the 65th anniversary of this iconic design, the Spanish artist Juan Díaz-Faes has created a new version with the Osborne company and the Coleccion Solo art project.
One of Spain’s most fashionable artists, he used the black outline as a canvas to rework it with a red version intended to represent the texture of the animal’s body. His redesign is on show at the Osborne Museum in Cadiz before heading to LariotCollective Gallery in London in autumn and later Berlin and Beijing.
“The Osborne bull takes me back to when I was travelling around Spain with my family and you would see these by the motorway,” Díaz-Faes told i.
“The bull has an image of strength, and when you see bulls in real life they inspire fear. My idea was I wanted to use the black bull as an open canvas to look at the body of the bull.”
Prieto, who died in 1991, worked for an advertising agency which was asked to find an idea to promote the Veterano brandy.
The four tonne metal structures, measuring 14 metres by 14 metres (45ft x 45ft), were positioned by roadsides across the country at a time when advertising in Spain was in its infancy.
There are 90 bulls across Spain, and others in Denmark, Japan and Mexico but there are no plans to have one in Britain, despite the popularity of Osborne sherry among younger drinkers in the UK.
Prieto came from a poor family and had to sell a bicycle his grandfather had given him to buy his first set of paints.
His bull image has gained international recognition and inspired photographers like Annie Lebovitz, Richard Avendon and Helmut Newton.
Oscar-winning actors Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz starred in the 1992 film Jamon, Jamon, in which the Osborne bull was used to publicise the movie.
Salvador Dali designed a swan shaped bottle of brandy for Osborne which was accompanied by a golden egg.
The Spanish family-owned drinks company was founded by Thomas Osborne Mann in 1772, who left Exeter in Devon to marry his Spanish wife Aurora Bohl de Faber.
Sir Francis Drake helped popularise sherry in Britain when he sacked the port of Cadiz in 1587 just as Spain was preparing an Armada to invade England.
“The best publicity agent for sherry was Sir Francis Drake, who took the wines of this region back to the court of Queen Elizabeth, and everyone wanted to drink what the Queen was drinking,” said Ivan Llanza, director of the Osborne Foundation.
The Osborne Group, which sells sherry, wine, Cinco Jotas ham and other products in 70 countries, has battled through the courts to defend the bull image from imitators.
The bull was created by Manolo Prieto in 1956 to advertise the Brandy de Jerez produced by the Osborne Group. His design was simple: the silhouette of a bull, entirely black but for the words Veterano Osborne ('Osborne Veteran') stenciled on it. The boards were placed near major roads in much of Spain.
Since pagan times, the bull has been an incredibly important animal in Spain. In ancient times, it symbolized power and fertility, celebrated with traditions that would later evolve into famous events like Spanish bullfighting and the running of the bulls.
The “bullboards” today. The Osborne bull continues to be the only advertising structure permitted on Spanish roads. Today there are just 92 bullboards left, scattered across almost every part of Spain. In 2011, they were ruled as protected and an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC).
In 1997, the country's Supreme Court even raised the roadside bulls, which are roughly 14 meters in height, to "national symbol" status, excluding them from a law that prohibits billboards outside city limits.
In general, shows fecundity, protector qualities, sacrifice, chastity and patience. Many of its body parts, especially the tail, foot and hide, are also symbolic of special powers, fertility and land respectively.
The Bull symbol is related to solar energies, highlighting determination, strength, and virility. Bull symbols have been depicted since prehistoric times. They can be found in art, literature, and astrology.
That is what is known as the Osborne bull, and it is the unofficial symbol of Spain. These came about as advertising for the Osborne sherry company, who started to put these bulls up by major roads in Spain in 1956 to advertise their “Brandy de Jerez”.
Although legal in Spain, some Spanish cities, such as Calonge, Tossa de Mar, Vilamacolum and La Vajol, have outlawed the practice of bullfighting. There are only a few countries throughout the world where this practice still takes place (Spain, France, Portugal, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, and Ecuador).
The horns are longer than in most other breeds and are present in both males and females. Mature bulls weigh from 408.2 to 700 kg (900 to 1,543 lb). Among fighting cattle, there are several "encastes" or subtypes of the breed.
Symbolic Meaning: In various cultures and mythologies, the black bull can carry symbolic significance. It can represent strength, power, fertility, or even certain deities or mythological figures.
Even their trunks can lift over 200kg, thanks to over 40,000 muscles. For context, an adult humans have just over 600 muscles in their entire bodies. The average weight for a fully-grown bull is just over 6000kg, making it the largest land animal in the world.
The Chianina is both the tallest and the heaviest breed of cattle. Mature bulls stand up to 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in), and oxen may reach 2 m (6 ft 7 in). It is not unusual for bulls to exceed 1,600 kg (3,500 lb) in weight.
A runner died of suffocation in one such pile up in 1977. Overall, since record-keeping began in 1910, 15 people have been killed in the bull running of Pamplona, most of them due to being gored. To minimize the impact of injuries every day 200 people collaborate in the medical attention.
A toro embolado (in Spanish), bou embolat (in Catalan), roughly meaning 'bull with balls', is a festive activity, typical of many towns in Spain (mainly in the Valencian community and Southern Catalonia), in which a bull that has burning balls of flammable material attached to its horns is set free in the streets at ...
The Osborne sherry company (founded by Thomas Osborne Mann in 1772) erected large images of black bulls near major Spanish roads in 1956 advertising the “Veterano” brand in red. The bull was created by artist Manolo Prieto.
Address: Suite 447 3463 Marybelle Circles, New Marlin, AL 20765
Phone: +5816749283868
Job: Sales Executive
Hobby: Air sports, Sand art, Electronics, LARPing, Baseball, Book restoration, Puzzles
Introduction: My name is Jerrold Considine, I am a combative, cheerful, encouraging, happy, enthusiastic, funny, kind person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
