The Embrace

The Embrace.

Apparently, not so fast.

This past week a new creation joined the statuary collection of my former hometown. Placed prominently at the top of the Boston Common, "The Embrace" captures the moment when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., having just learned he had won the Nobel Peace Prize, joyfully flung his arms around his wife Coretta.

The bronze sculpture is decidedly modern in flavor. Indeed the two sets of arms are both headless and without bodies. Their tangled limbs hover above the ground in a perpetual state of euphoria. Perhaps, not surprisingly, not everyone's reaction has been quite so exalted.

Prior to Monday's unveiling, the only official nod to Dr. King's time in Boston was a small plaque that marked his residence at 397 Massachusetts Avenue, a three-story row house deep in the heart of the South End.

Only time will tell if this latest homage will find its way into the hearts and history of the famed "City on a Hill." Only time will tell...

"Art is never finished, only abandoned." - Leonardo da Vinci