Non-Violence, 1980
Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd
Bronze sculpture

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case one sculpture, and its location, says it all. The bronze sculpture, Non-Violence, depicts a 45-calibre revolver with its barrel tied in a knot. The gun is cocked, but the knot makes it clear that it cannot shoot. Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd made it in 1980 after his friend John Lennon was murdered. He said, ‘I became so upset and angry over his death and many other outbursts of unnecessary violence that I went right to my studio and started working.’ Many versions of the work have since been made, but this one was placed at the Strawberry Fields memorial in New York City’s Central Park, across the street from where John and Yoko lived. Then, in 1988, the government of Luxembourg donated it to the United Nations. Such socially engaged art is often criticised for offering a simplistic solution to a complex problem. Its presence is also somewhat ironic in a country still wedded to its right to bear arms. But standing where it does, outside the United Nations Headquarters, it continues to make its one, powerful, silent appeal.

Art in Focus is curated by Meryl Doney

___

This is an extract from an article published in the September 2024 edition of Reform