Controversial sculpture on Poland's struggle removed from U.S. park

A sculpture hailed by some as an apt tribute to freedom fighters and deplored by others as a depressing annoyance is headed back to its owner after 23 years on loan in Boston, according to a media report.

The "Partisans" sculpture by Polish immigrant Andrew Pitynski, which depicts five weary, emaciated horsemen, was hauled to a South Boston storage facility to be returned to its owner, the Sculpture Foundation of San Francisco, the Boston Globe reported.

The sculpture was inspired by &to=http://english.pravda.ru/society/2003/02/06/43048.html' target=_blank>Poland's struggle with the Nazis and communists, and was meant as a tribute to freedom fighters around the world, but members of the city's art elite felt it didn't fit in a park largely devoted to American historical figures. The parks department complained about working around it and police had to stop people from climbing on the sculpture during events.

The owner of the 8,000-pound (3,630-kilogram) sculpture loaned it to Boston for six months in 1983, but never reclaimed it, leaving the piece on display at the foot of the Boston Common park, the newspaper reported.

Sarah Hutt, director of the art commission, said the city long made it clear to the owner that the sculpture was unwelcome in Boston. She said she doesn't know why the foundation didn't take it back.

"It's like if you leave your car in front of my house," she told the Globe. "I can't take it out and wash it. You've got to come and move it."

But sculptor Pitynski, who lives in New York, was outraged.

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