Massachusetts General Laws Part I. Administration of the Government (Ch. 1-182) Ch. 41, § 84

In any town which has accepted section eighty-two or corresponding provisions of earlier laws, no municipal structure shall be erected, and no work of art or ornament or object of utility, except authorized structures of public service corporations and public watering troughs or drinking fountains not constituting works of art or ornament, shall be placed on any public ways or on any public lands other than cemeteries, and no work of art or object of decoration shall be placed in or upon any public or municipal building or be removed, relocated or altered, unless the design thereof or the action to be taken therewith shall have been approved in writing by the art commission, or unless said commission shall have failed to disapprove the same in writing within thirty days after its submission. Whoever violates the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars.