Art: Groping Boy

When the town fathers of Bristol, Va. (pop. 15,954) set aside $8,500 for "ornamental stone" to decorate their new $1,200,000 high school, they did not specify exactly what they wanted. The choice was left to the school's architect, who decided on a piece from one of Italy's leading modern sculptors, Pericle Fazzini (TIME, May 7, 1951). But when the packing case arrived from Rome last year and the school officials got their first look, they gasped in pained surprise. Inside was a 6½ft. expressionistic bronze statue of a nude, egg-headed boy, braced against...

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