John Tolmay - Blue Bull of the Southern Grassland
John Tolmay - Blue Bull of the Southern Grassland
John Tolmay - Blue Bull of the Southern Grassland

John Tolmay - Blue Bull of the Southern Grassland

$6,720.00 Sale

John Tolmay
Blue Bull of the Southern Grassland
Cape Eland
bronze edition of 30 NEW PIECE Sculpted in 2025
19h x 8w x 18L in 
$ 6,720
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Bronze Africa ‘Blue Bull of the Southern Grassland’

The Cape Eland is found across much of southern Africa, and while different countries may call it by various names, it remains unmistakably the Cape Eland. Among hunters abroad, it has often stood in the shadow of its northern cousin, the Lord Derby or Giant Eland. This is something of an injustice – for while the Lord Derby claims longer horns (with a record of 56.75″), the Cape Eland is the larger of the two, reaching over 2,000 pounds in weight and ranking as Africa’s true giant antelope.

Despite its size and magnificence, the Cape Eland has never quite received the recognition it deserves. To me, however, it has always been an animal of immense presence, its sheer bulk combined with a quiet elegance. Strangely, I had never sculpted it until now – something I feel was long overdue.

I present to you the Blue Bull, a tribute to the southern giant of Africa.

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.

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