Non-Violence
A revolver with its barrel tied in a knot. Reuterswärd made it after the murder of his friend John Lennon in 1980. Since 1988 a version has stood outside the United Nations headquarters in New York.
A single twist makes the weapon useless – and the image understandable everywhere, without words.
Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd made Non-Violence after John Lennon was murdered in New York in December 1980. Lennon was a friend of Reuterswärd’s, and the killing with a revolver made a deep impression on him. Reuterswärd, born in 1934, was a Swedish artist and poet who worked in sculpture, painting, printmaking and laser art. He had long lived partly abroad.
The sculpture depicts a large revolver with its barrel tied in a knot. The revolver is modelled on a real gun, a Colt Python, but on an enlarged scale. The knot makes the weapon useless. It is simple and direct, and you need no language to understand the message.
The composition rests on a single idea. The revolver is realistically rendered, with cylinder, trigger and grip. The only deviation is the softly knotted barrel. The contrast between the hard weapon and the soft knot creates the tension. The barrel points upwards and backwards, away from the viewer. The form recalls comic strips, in which objects can be bent and knotted in ways impossible in reality. The playful idea makes the seriousness of the message all the clearer.
The sculpture exists in several casts and materials. The best known is in bronze and stands outside the United Nations headquarters in New York. It was given to the UN in 1988 by the government of Luxembourg. Other versions have been placed in cities around the world, including Malmö and Lausanne in Switzerland. Its location at the UN means the sculpture is seen by delegates and visitors from all over the world, which suits its message.
The work has become a symbol of the peace movement and of the fight against gun violence. The idea that a weapon can be “tied up” has been interpreted as an expression of the belief that violence can be stopped. The sculpture has been used in campaigns against guns and in education on conflict resolution. A foundation has been set up around the work and runs programmes on non-violence for young people.
Reuterswärd was known for working with simple, striking symbols. He had long been interested in words, signs and visual communication, and he had made art with light and lasers. Non-Violence is his best-known work, and it has made his name known far beyond the art world.
The sculpture shows that public art can become part of political debate. It is used on stamps and posters and in publicity for peace work. It is also an example of how a work of art can take on a life of its own beyond the artist’s intentions, and how a simple image can become internationally recognised. Reuterswärd died in 2016.