Ottmar Horl’s giant pink rabbit sculpture, next to the Wiener Staatsoper, Vienna, March 2015
This pink rabbit is in fact a young hare. It also turns out that he has a multitude of cousins, but more of that later.
The German artist, Albrecht Dürer, who hailed from Nuremberg, painted his now famous “Young Hare” in 1502 (see below); it is widely acknowledged as a masterpiece of observational art and is housed in the Albertina Museum in Vienna.
The original “Young Hare” – faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art – source: Wikicommons
In 2003, he created a large scale art installation of numerous hares in four shades of green, which were displayed in Nuremberg market square under the title “A large piece of hare”.
Ottmar Hörl – Dürer Hare, art project in Nuremberg 2003 –
www.ottmar-hoerl.de – photo Johannes Marburg
Hörl’s art installations are very much focused on multitudinousness, with multiple Goethes, multiple Charles the Greats, multiple meerkats, multiple Berlin Bears, multiple gnomes – you get the idea.
His latest multiple installation features a myriad of red, black and gold Gutenbergs. The “Black Magic” exhibition at Eltville am Rhein, celebrates the anniversary of the death of the blacksmith, goldsmith, printer and publisher who introduced printing to Europe, Johannes Gutenberg. It is on show until 23 September 2018.
If you fancy your own piece of hare, you can order them here or you’ll find them in shops around the world.
replica hares in a shop in Shoreditch, London
But so much for all that history; you are probably still asking why is this pink hare sitting outside Staatsoper? It is actually a sign for a restaurant, the Dinner Club at Albertina Passage. Why a rabbit? Because the restaurant is apparently inspired by the famous Jack Rabbit Slim’s place in Pulp Fiction.
Copyyright Debbie Smyth, 26 March 2015
-updated September 2018
(except where images otherwise accredited)
Travel with Intent 
Interesting, I like the pink hare.
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Thank you for sharing the photos and the history. A magical tour. 🙂
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Reblogged this on mapsworldwide blog and commented:
Hares!
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If I saw a giant pink hare or a bunch of small green ones I would think I’d a wee bit too much to drink.
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It did feel a bit like that 🙂
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A fun post. In time for Easter
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I love these! It’s very fanciful and the patterns made by the multiples are very seductive.
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Lovely photo!
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cool post and enjoyed learning a bit more – but I do not really care for Horl’s work – but I loved your post on this -and seeing the replicas they sell….
Dürer, on the other hand, I have always enjoyed using some of his prints in certain classes for middle school – so much to glean and he did have this seeing skills you noted –
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Hi Debbie, I am joining Jo here :D. I like your copyright too. You’re cool 🙂
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Thanks Paula 🙂
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Applause! Applause! Well done for rising to this challenge so magnificently, Debs! I love that square with all the shades of green. I saw something similar id Krakow once but it was in black and white. 🙂
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Thanks Jo
That may have been him, you never know.
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Uh, the pink nor the green rabbits are my favorite (to quantify the green ones does not make it more attractive in my humble opinion), but I would like to visit Neurenberg because it’s such a historic city:)
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So cute all the multi coloured bunnies!
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