Bronze Africa ‘Accepting the Challenge’
Years ago on the ridge of spine running down the then Rhodesia, I saw two Sable bulls squaring off to fight. It never came to a fight, they only postured and there were many really impressive gestures. After about 30 minutes of showing off the one bull was intimidated enough to where he broke off and ran with the victor running up behind making impressive sweeps with his horns. I never saw this again and I have never seen any wounds on Sable bulls. It occurs to me that they rarely, if ever, get into a full on fight – it could be pretty deadly if they did go for each other full on.
What you see here is one of the stances they took among other gestures of defiance. The victor had a trophy that measured 46 inches and has a place in a beautiful home in Paris, France.
John Tolmay
Born in Southern Rhodesia in 1943, John Tolmay grew up immersed in the African bush, where an early fascination with wildlife and nature inspired him to begin drawing his observations. After agricultural college in South Africa, he traveled to Europe and the United States, working as a cowboy in Nebraska and New Mexico before returning to Rhodesia in 1966 to ranch.
Tolmay began guiding African hunting safaris in 1974, an experience that gave him an intimate understanding of wildlife, movement, and anatomy - knowledge that would later become fundamental to his work as a sculptor. He completed and sold his first bronze in 1989 and has since devoted himself to capturing the animals and experiences of a lifetime spent in the wild.
A committed conservationist as well as an artist, Tolmay founded Zambia's Nyawa Pilot Project, promoting community-based wildlife management and a sustainable relationship between rural communities and their natural resources.
