Pitynski's 'The Partisans': never-ending trek on Boston Common

A monumental sculpture by Polish sculptor Andrew Pitynski, entitled ''The Partisans,'' was unveiled on a chilly, gray afternoon last week on the Boston Common.

The larger-than-life, 3,500-pound, cast-aluminum work depicts five armed and mounted lancers of various ages, wandering through a forest - cold, dejected, and wet.

Mr. Pitynski, born in 1947 in a forest near Ulanow, Poland, was raised by his partisan parents who were members of an underground group called the National Army Organization.

At the unveiling, Pitynski noted that Boston, with its freedom-fighter tradition, was a fitting place for ''The Partisans'' to be exhibited. The artist , now on the staff of the Johnson Atelier-Technical Institute of Sculpture in Princeton, N.J., dedicated the work to ''all of those who fought and are fighting in a war of freedom.''

The sculpture will be on exhibition on the Boston Common for one month, after which it will be moved to a yet unspecified location for eight months.