Artist: Thieves "Destroyed" Artwork

For nearly 10 years – the better part of the time the has been in Bethesda – seven bronze sculptures have graced the outside of the museum.

The sculptures, created by artist Phillip Ratner almost 35 years ago, are about 2 feet high and 1 foot wide, featuring figures dancing within a metal framework.

“They were outside for almost 10 years, and nobody ever touched them, nobody ever vandalized them,” said Ratner, who founded the museum with his cousin Dennis and is known for his five sculptures at the Statue of Liberty and his 40 sculptures at Ellis Island.

“People have enjoyed them – they’re one of a kind.”

But sometime over the weekend, the quiet museum — a bit offset from the bustle of downtown Bethesa at 10001 Old Georgetown Road — became the target of thieves.

Six of the seven sculptures were pried loose from their pedestals and stolen, and

Ratner said the sculptures were still there when he closed up the museum on Friday. He didn’t stop by on Saturday and first noticed that the sculptures were missing when he returned to the museum Sunday after a morning bagel run with another cousin.

“My cousin said, ‘Where are your sculptures? There’s some little pieces sticking up from the pedestal,'” Ratner said. “When I walked over, I could see exactly what had happened. Whoever took them, in a huge crush to my ego, they didn’t want the sculptures. They had worked the bronze back and forth until the tops broke off.”

Ratner considers his artwork “destroyed for the bronze,” rather than stolen.

In the wake of the thefts, Ratner said he may try to create new sculptures, albeit with lower-cost steel.

“The pieces are gone,” Ratner said. “We won’t be putting bronzes outside again.”

Public art thefts are rare in downtown Bethesda, according to Stephanie Coppula, a spokeswoman for the

There was an incident in 2009 where a “poetry bench” – one of 20 benches at Bethesda Circulator stops handcrafted with the work of local artists and poets – was apparently stolen. The bench was recovered, and it was later learned that it had in fact been vandalized and misplaced.

“Fingers crossed, knock on wood, [vandals] tend not to focus on public art,” Coppula said.