Sculpture removal: Or, the fine art of angering the public
I READ with sadness that Andrew Pitynski's ''controversial" sculpture, ''Partisans," was unceremoniously removed recently from Boston Common (''Riding into exile: Scorned by many, statue honoring freedom fighters is hauled from Common," Page A1, Jan. 18). It was my favorite of Boston's statues, and I connected with it on a level I can't give voice to with words. And while I can appreciate the feelings of those who rallied for its removal, be they the ''art elite" or members of the Friends of the Public Garden, many of us Common folk enjoyed this moving tribute to those who fought against the Nazis and, by extension, for freedom everywhere.
Our public parks, especially at the very birthplace of freedom in America, should recognize that this country is still a beautiful melting pot, where contributions from all sides should be honored, not just those of a select few. And if the powers that be will not reconsider, let's find a place of honor somewhere in Boston for Pitynski's eloquent vision.
BILL PIMENTEL
Winthrop
APPARENTLY a group of elitist and self-appointed art critics has decided to save the citizens of Boston from the trauma of having to view art that commands some thought and emotion. Is that not what art is designed to do?
The tireless efforts of the Boston Art Commission and the so-called Friends of the Public Garden have succeeded in imposing their views on the city.
According to the ''Friends" board member who exclaimed ''cheers" upon this artwork's removal, art placed on Boston Common ''should have to do with America and its history." With that standard, I assume Boston will have to remove other similarly offensive works of art, including the Irish Famine Memorial, the Hungarian Revolution memorial, and the Boston Public Garden's Japanese lantern.
Hey, I hope those aren't Mandarin ducklings waddling along! Make way in that South Boston warehouse.
JOSEPH A. TWAROG
Florence
AS A Mass Art-educated artist I find the stuffy and placid views of public art in this city to be completely uninspiring. ''Partisans" was one of the few public works that evoked any kind of emotion.
This is just another reason why artists hold no hope of making it in Boston, and why the city loses them to New York. Like my friends and fellow artists, we all dream of the day we can get out of the conservative confines of a city labeled as a liberal bastion.
This is an act of utter snobbery and Boston is a lesser city for it. Eugenie Beal, Sarah Hutt, and the rest of the stuffy elite should all be infinitely ashamed of their parts in the sculpture's removal.
PAUL ARSENAULT
Boston
THOSE WHO claim that monuments to Poles are being hauled away are mistaken. A statue to the Polish patriot Thaddeus Kosciuszko, who volunteered in the American Revolution, has graced the Public Garden since 1927.
RICHARD HEATH
Boston
I ENJOY all of the art of this city, from the whimsy of the Leif Ericson statue and the calm of the Samuel Eliot Morison statue to murals and graffiti. But there was nothing as thought-provoking as ''Partisans" in its otherwise unadorned corner of the Common. I have spent many hours on the benches there, and will miss the work and the feeling it produced.
NEIL J. BERMAN
Somerville 
