The Partisans!

We were in Boston last month for a trade show that my H's company participates in every year. I tagged along this year because I like Boston - it has a small town atmosphere about it, a feel of England and the seafood is great.

We were strolling back from lunch at one of Legal Seafood outlets near the harbor when we spotted this very interesting sculpture on the other side of the road. From afar, you could already feel a certain sadness because the men on horsebacks had their heads hung low. Curious, we crossed the road to get a closer look. It turned out the sculpture was titled, "The Partisans" with a wreath and name of the artist. There was only very general information that does not clue us in to the significance of the sculpture or why the the men had their heads hung so low - it was heart-breaking to see them. You could almost feel their pain and tiredness even from afar.

Upon my return, I googled it and here is a brief history of the Partisans.The cavalry was meant to be displayed in Warsaw, Poland but it was not welcomed due to communism and the emotions that would likely be stirred way back in 1979 when it was created. It was supposed to be a temporary display for a few months at the Boston Common in 1982 but stayed for an uneasy 23 years among the American iconography of Boston Commons - admired and praised, cursed and maligned.

For years, some urged its removal arguing that the Commons should be reserved for works that depicted Boston and American history. It was dismantled and all 8,000 pounds of sculpture hauled to a storage facility in early 2006, but not without some 150 Polish-Americans descending on City Hall Plaza, waving the Polish flags and shouting their outrage. It wasn't until June 2006 that it found its new home near the new Institute of Contemporary Art on the South Boston Waterfront and that is exactly where we spotted the sculpture. The scuplture is owned by a Sculpture Foundation based in California and on loan for a 3-year period, renewal at the end of the term.

A symbol of freedom sculpted in 1979 by Polish sculptor and artist Andrew Pitynski of Brooklyn, New York, whose parents were themselves partisans - the controversial sculpture of haggard horsemen was a tribute to guerilla freedom fighters everywhere. The partisans better known as Armii Krajowa in Poland, had little choice in WW II but to carry on guerilla warfare as Hitler's orders were to annihilate all Poles. They fought the German Army and later the Soviet Communists from their hiding places in Europe's dense forests. They fought on foot or horseback, starving at times and giving their lives for they believed they should be able to live and enjoy the same freedom as anyone else.

The sculpture “The Partisans” is intended as a universal tribute to freedom fighters - it is not associated with a particular war and the sculptor had no specific names or persons in mind - just five bedraggled men on horseback. They have no eyes, just sunken holes - you get a feel they are pushing on despite their tiredness, hunger, inability to hold on to their mount and perhaps even sense of hopelessness. Even the horses looked like they could do with a good meal and a decent rest. You can't help but feel the burden they carried on their shoulders and empty stomachs.