Ostrich statue permanently removed after vandalism

After multiple incidents of vandalism, workers yesterday removed the easily recognizable ostrich sculpture that was installed near Tisch Library.

The sculpture, officially called “Autruche II” or Ostrich II, was installed in September and has since been splattered by red and black paint, as well as covered by pumpkins, according to Laura McCarty, the art collections registrar at Tufts University Art Gallery. Made with a special material, the piece could not withstand the vandalism, she said.

“It has this patina, this bismuth patina which is fragile,” she said. “It’s meant to be looked at. It’s not meant to have a pumpkin squashed on it and then have all of the material from inside the pumpkin drip down [its] neck.”

After the pumpkin smashing incident in November, a conservator reevaluated the sculpture’s locale. But it remained in its original location at Tufts until yesterday.

“At that point, the decision was made by the lenders because we do not own this piece ... to leave the pieces because they thought it was a one-time incident [and] that it wasn’t going to be damaged again,” she said.

During the recent snowstorms, however, students covered the sculpture in snow and McCarty discovered additional paint on its head when removing the snow. For now, the sculpture will be sent to a conservator, who will decide if its patina, a type of gloss, needs to be reapplied. If that is the case, it will likely be sent back to the artist’s studio in France, according to McCarty. When “Banjo” — as students call him — has been restored, the Art Gallery will ship it back to the lender. It will not return to Tufts.

“We try to keep costs down here, and we don’t have an extravagant budget,” McCarty said. “This is going to cost us a lot of money ... and it’s ridiculous that we can’t put nice things on campus and know that the students and faculty and staff will be able to enjoy [them] without it being degraded by people who feel the need to destroy them.

The sculpture, which, according to McCarty has gained a wide following — and even has his own Twitter and Instagram accounts — will be missed.

“We’ve been very devastated by this — this is heartbreaking,” she said. “We hate to see him go. He has been such a great focal point on this campus.”