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Non-Violence (sculpture)

Coordinates: 40°45′03″N 73°58′04″W / 40.75083°N 73.96778°W / 40.75083; -73.96778
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Non-Violence
The Knotted Gun
The sculpture at the United Nations headquarters in New York City
ArtistCarl Fredrik Reuterswärd
Completion date1984
TypeSculpture

Non-Violence, also known as The Knotted Gun, is a bronze sculpture by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd of an oversized Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver with its barrel tied in a knot. It is located at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

History

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Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd made this sculpture after the murder of John Lennon, with whom Reuterswärd was acquainted.[1] When learning of the murder he stayed up all night to work on the piece, inspired by the idea of making a knot on the firearm the murderer Mark David Chapman had used.[2] He had previously done pieces of knotted pencils, such as Medium’s Memory in Kristianstad in 1977.[3] During 1980-1981 Reuterswärd did one prototype of a life size firearm in plaster and one in bronze.[4] These are now kept in the collection of Museum of Sketches for Public Art in Lund.

The oversized public version of the piece was planned for John Lennon’s memorial Strawberry Fields in Central Park.[5] This sculpture was made 1984,[6] but when the memorial was opened in 1985 Reuterswärd opted not to have it placed there, citing fears it would be stolen.[7] In 1988, the Luxembourg government bought and donated it to the United Nations. The sculpture was moved right outside of the headquarters of the UN.[8][9] Here it was interpreted not only a memorial for John Lennon, but as a symbol against violence and war anywhere in the world.

Following the unveiling of the original sculpture, Reuterswärd did a range of replicas of Non Violence for places around the world, numbering about 30 sculptures. About half of these are in Sweden.

Aside from the public pieces, Reuterswärd made plenty of variations of the sculpture in smaller or life sized scale. In 2012 he donated a collection of pieces like this to the city museum in Landskrona.[10]

Since 1993, the sculpture has been the symbol of The Non-Violence Project (NVPF), a nonprofit organization that promotes social change through violence-prevention education programs. In 2011, Ringo Starr unveiled his own brightly colored version of The Knotted Gun that he created.[11] Later, more colour versions were made by Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono and other celebrities.[12]

For the 30th anniversary of the sculpture, the NVPF and the art dealer Hansen Fine Art launched a foot-long version of the sculpture sold online.[13] The United Nations Postal Administration issued three stamps depicting the sculpture.[14] In 2019, the NVPF worked with the Dalai Lama to make 150 small-scale Non-Violence sculptures from melted confiscated firearms (Humanium Metal), including one copy signed by the Dalai Lama and auctioned at Sotheby's.[15]

Locations

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There are currently more than 30 copies of the sculpture around the world. They are located in places such as :

N° Country Photo City Location Since
1  Sweden Malmö Bagers plats 1992[6]
2 Stockholm Sergelgatan 1995[6]
3 Gothenburg Kungsportsavenyen 1997[6]
4 Gothenburg Göteborgs Högre Samskola Stampgatan
5 Gothenburg Göteborgs Högre Samskola Föreningsgatan
6 Borås Anna Lindh park
7 Lund The Museum of Sketches 2005[6]
8 Täby, Stockholm County Täby Centrum station 1998[6]
9 Fittja, Stockholm County Fittja metro station 1998[6]
10 Stockholm Åkeshov metro station 1998[6]
11 Halmstad Brogatan 2014[16]
12 Halmstad AJ Produkter Headquarter. Transportvägen[17]
13 Tällberg Green Hotel. Ovabacksgattu 17[17]
14 Landskrona Kasernplan
15  USA (original piece) New York City Headquarters of the United Nations 1988
16  Luxembourg Kirchberg Parc Central
17  China Beijing Chaoyang Park
18 Nanjing 1865 Creative Park
19  Germany Berlin Federal Chancellery
20
Marl Creiler Platz 1999
21  France Caen Mémorial de Caen 2005[18]
22   Switzerland Lausanne Olympic Museum 1997[19]
23  South Africa Cape Town Victoria & Alfred Waterfront
24  Mexico Naucalpan Mexipuerto Shopping Mall at Cuatro Caminos metro station
25 Mexico City 683 Calle Ferrocarril de Cuarnavaca, Polanco
26  India Chennai Perambur, ICF
27  Georgia Rukhi Senaki - Leselidze Highway
28  Lebanon Lebanon.Beirut 2022 Beirut Seafront[20] 2018
29  United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) Belfast Girdwood Community Hub
Gift from the Olsson family[21]		 2019
30  Finland Mariehamn

See also

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References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Non-Violence (sculpture).
  1. ^ Fredrik, Carl (2000). Closed for holidays : memoarer. Stockholm: Natur och kultur. p. 156. ISBN 9127080579.
  2. ^ Fredrik, Carl (2000). Closed for holidays : memoarer. Stockholm: Natur och kultur. p. 157. ISBN 9127080579.
  3. ^ Fredrik, Carl (2005). Non-Violence och andra offentliga verk. Lund: Skissernas museum. p. 20. ISBN 9178560624.
  4. ^ Fredrik, Carl (2005). Non-Violence och andra offentliga verk. Lund: Skissernas museum. p. 29. ISBN 9178560624.
  5. ^ Fredrik, Carl (2005). Non-Violence och andra offentliga verk. Lund: Skissernas museum. p. 29. ISBN 9178560624.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Fredrik, Carl (2005). Non-Violence och andra offentliga verk. Lund: Skissernas museum. p. 121. ISBN 9178560624.
  7. ^ Fredrik, Carl (2000). Closed for holidays : memoarer. Stockholm: Natur och kultur. p. 157. ISBN 9127080579.
  8. ^ "Presentation page on the site of the Permanent Mission of Luxembourg to the United nations" (in French). Archived from the original on 2019-01-29. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
  9. ^ Martin Chilton, Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd, sculptor of knotted revolver peace symbol, dies, Telegraph.co.uk, 4 May 2016
  10. ^ Millroth, Thomas. "Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd – Non Violence samlingen". Landskrona Stad. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  11. ^ Adam Sherwin, And then there were four: Ringo picks up his paintbrush, Independent.co.uk, 9 December 2011
  12. ^ "Ambassadörer". Non Violence Project. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  13. ^ Anna Harstedt, Celebrating the iconic Knotted Gun sculpture at the United Nations in NYC, 30 years later Archived 2019-04-08 at the Wayback Machine, Metro.us, 4 October 2018
  14. ^ Denise McCarty, U.N.'s new Knotted Gun stamp designs, Linns.com, 25 September 2018
  15. ^ Ben Paynter, They’re recreating this classic anti-gun-violence sculpture with metal from melted-down guns, Fastcompany.com, 10 January 2019
  16. ^ "Konstverk i Halmstad". www.halmstad.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  17. ^ a b A blog entry dedicated to the firearm with the knot on the barrel, Travelblog.org, 31 July 2011
  18. ^ Reuterswärd, Carl Fredrik (2005). Non-Violence och andra offentliga verk. Lund: Skissernas museum. p. 121. ISBN 9178560624. {{cite book}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  19. ^ Reuterswärd, Carl Fredrik (2005). Non-Violence och andra offentliga verk. Lund: Skissernas museum. p. 121. ISBN 9178560624. {{cite book}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  20. ^ "Knotted Gun Sculpture Unveiled in Beirut". Voice of America. 2 October 2018.[dead link‍]
  21. ^ John Donohoe, The Knotted Gun, symbol of peace, erected in Belfast, Maethchronicle.ie, 16 September 2019

40°45′03″N 73°58′04″W / 40.75083°N 73.96778°W / 40.75083; -73.96778

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