Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

“THEY SHALL BEAT THEIR SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES…”

Date Range From

1975

Date Range To

1980

Materials

BRONZE

No. Pieces

1

Height

38.25

Length

92

Width

1.5

Description

RECTANGULAR PLAQUE MADE OF CAST BRONZE. IMAGE IN LOW RELIEF DEPICTS A FARMER SITTING BEHIND A PLOW BEING PULLED BY SIX HORSES. TEXT RUNNING ALONG THE BOTTOM EDGE READS “THEY SHALL BEAT THEIR SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES… ISA. 2:4”. VERY GOOD CONDITION OVERALL.

Subjects

ART

PERSONAL SYMBOL

Historical Association

FINE ARTS

COMMEMORATIVE

RELIGION

History

THIS PLAQUE BELONGED TO JACOB AND KATHERINE KLASSEN, PARENTS OF THE DONOR, BEV HALL. IT WAS CREATED BY THE ARTIST JOHN PETER KLASSEN, JACOB'S UNCLE. ON JULY 22, 2014, COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED BEV HALL AND HER UNCLE, JOHN KLASSEN, ABOUT THEIR FAMILY HISTORY AND ASSOCIATION WITH THIS PLAQUE. KLASSEN SAID: “[OUR FAMILY] HAD TREMENDOUS PROSPERITY [IN THE UKRAINE] UP UNTIL THE FIRST WORLD WAR, AND THAT’S WHEN THINGS STARTED TO GET BAD. AND IN 1917, THE COMMUNIST REVOLUTION TOOK ON, AND THE AREA THAT THESE PEOPLE LIVED IN, THEY LIVED IN VILLAGE, AND THERE WAS REVOLUTION. THEY HAD THE RED ARMY WHO SUPPORTED THE TSAR OF RUSSIA, AND THEN, OF COURSE, THE COMMUNIST GROUP, UNDER LENIN, THEY WERE THE WHITE ARMY, THEY CALLED IT. AND WHERE THESE PEOPLE LIVED, THEY WERE IN KIND OF A TRANSITION AREA. IT’S THE SAME AREA NOW THAT’S IN TROUBLE IN THE UKRAINE. THE RED ARMY WOULD COME THROUGH, AND WHEN THEY CAME THROUGH THE VILLAGES, THEY WOULD TAKE THEIR HORSES, THEIR LIVESTOCK, MURDER AND RAPE. IT WAS TERRIBLE. WHEN THEY GOT DRIVEN BACK, THEN THE WHITE ARMY DID THE SAME THING, AND, SO THEY WERE RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVES. AND, AS IF THAT WASN’T BAD ENOUGH THEY HAD A TYPHUS EPIDEMIC DURING THAT TIME, AND THEN IN 1920, THEY HAD A DROUGHT, A FAMINE, AND, BECAUSE IT WAS WARFARE, THEY WEREN’T ALLOWED, NOBODY COULD GO OUT IN A FIELD. YOU’D GET SHOT IF YOU DID, AND SO NOBODY WAS GROWING FOOD, JUST HORRIBLE CONDITIONS. SO THIS IS WHAT ENCOURAGED THEM TO LEAVE, TO MIGRATE.” KLASSEN CONTINUED: “[IMMIGRANTS] CAME PENNILESS. IN FACT, THEY CAME IN DEBT. IT WAS THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD THAT FUNDED THEIR PASSAGE, AND, AFTER THEY WERE HERE SEVERAL YEARS, THEY REPAID THE PASSAGE. AND THE AGREEMENT WAS, THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA WANTED TO SETTLE WESTERN CANADA, AND THEY’D HEARD THAT MENNONITES ARE GOOD FARMERS AND THEY HAD BEEN VERY PROSPEROUS IN THE UKRAINE, AND SO THEY BROUGHT THEM OVER… AND THE CPR NEEDED TO GET FREIGHT FOR THEIR TRAINS, SO THEY WANTED TO SETTLE THE WEST WITH FARMERS [TOO]… AND THAT WAS THE CONDITION OF THEIR IMMIGRATION, WAS THAT THEY WOULD BE FARMERS… LAND WAS PRETTY WELL FREE. OR YOU COULD GET IT ON A CROP SHARE BASIS… I THINK THAT’S HOW [MY FATHER HENRY] GOT THE FIRST LAND. AND THEN THEY WOULD GIVE A QUARTER OF THEIR CROP FOR PAYMENT EACH YEAR. SO THERE WAS SO MUCH LAND HERE, SO THE COUNTRY WAS SHORT OF LABOUR, SHORT OF FARMERS. AND IT WAS BACK BREAKING WORK. IT WAS REALLY DIFFICULT. AND THE WOMEN AND THE KIDS WERE OUT IN THE FIELDS HOEING BEETS, AND DOING FARM WORK… MY DAD WAS THE FIRST MENNONITE IN VAUXHALL. THEN THERE WERE OTHERS CAME IN THAT SAME FALL, AND NEXT YEAR, AND SO IT GOT TO BE A FAIRLY PROSPEROUS COMMUNITY AND THERE ARE ACTUALLY TWO MENNONITE CHURCHES THERE [NOW].” WHEN ASKED ABOUT HIS UNCLE JOHN PETER KLASSEN, THE ARTIST OF THIS PLAQUE, KLASSEN SAID “HE WAS AN ART INSTRUCTOR [AT BLUFFTON COLLEGE]… [BEFORE IMMIGRATING] HE STUDIED ART IN SWITZERLAND AND IN GERMANY, [FOR] NINE YEARS. AND IT WAS IN 1914 WHEN THE FIRST WORLD WAR BROKE OUT AND HE WAS WITHIN ONE YEAR OF HIS PHD IN ART, WHEN ALL THE RUSSIAN CITIZENS FROM THE UKRAINE AND RUSSIA WERE CALLED BACK BECAUSE OF THE WAR, SO THAT ENDED HIS INTELLECTUAL TRAINING… BECAUSE OF THE REVOLUTION THAT FOLLOWED AFTER 1917 IN RUSSIA, THEY LOST ALL THEIR PROPERTY… [THE KLASSEN FAMILY] IMMIGRATED TO CANADA IN 1923… HE GOT A JOB IN EDMONTON AS A BRICKLAYER, [BUT SIX MONTHS LATER] GOT THIS OFFER IN BLUFFTON. THEY WANTED TO START AN ART DEPARTMENT. THEY’D HEARD ABOUT HIM, AND SO HE MIGRATED TO THE UNITED STATES… HE WAS AN ART PROFESSOR FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE, FOR 34 YEARS, I BELIEVE… THIS [EDITION OF PLAQUES] WAS KIND OF HIS MAJOR WORK THAT HE DID THERE, AND [THERE ARE PLAQUES] IN BLUFFTON COLLEGE [AND] ALSO IN THE MUSEUM IN GRETNA, MANITOBA.” ACCORDING TO JOHN KLASSEN, PAUL KLASSEN, SON OF THE ARTIST, HAD A SECOND EDITION OF PLAQUES MADE FROM HIS FATHER’S ORIGINAL MOULD IN 1980, TO BE DISTRIBUTED TO KLASSEN FAMILY MEMBERS. KLASSEN SAID: “HE HAD THESE MADE, CONTRACTED IN A FOUNDRY, TO POUR THEM FOR THEM. SO HE HAD TO HAVE FIRM ORDERS TO HAVE THIS DONE… THAT’S AS MANY AS THEY MADE AT THAT TIME… [PAUL] ASKED WHETHER WE’D WANT IT, AND WE SIGNED UP FOR IT [AT A FAMILY REUNION], AND, I THINK, AT THAT TIME THEY WERE CLOSE TO $300.00 APIECE… MY BROTHER LIVED IN GLASGOW, MONTANA, AND [THE PLAQUE WAS] SHIPPED THERE, AND THEN WE PUT IT IN THE BACK OF THE CAR, AND THE CAR KIND OF WENT DOWN WHEN WE PUT THIS HUNDRED POUND PLAQUE IN THE BACK…” BEV HALL DESCRIBED HER PARENTS’ RELATIONSHIP TO THE PLAQUE, SAYING: “DAD AND MUM WOULD’VE ATTENDED THAT FAMILY REUNION, AND DAD WOULD’VE PUT IN AN ORDER FOR THE PLAQUE. I JUST REMEMBER A STORY OF SOMETHING ABOUT WHEN THEY BROUGHT [THE PLAQUES] ACROSS THE LINE; THEY HAD DIFFICULTY GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS BECAUSE CUSTOMS DIDN’T REALLY KNOW WHAT CATEGORY TO PUT IT UNDER. SO THE STORY I HEARD WAS THAT THEY DECIDED JUST TO CALL IT ‘SCRAP METAL’, TO BRING IT ACROSS… [THE PLAQUE REPRESENTS] THE HISTORY NOT ONLY OF THE FAMILY BUT THE FAITH THAT BROUGHT THE FAMILY ACROSS TO CANADA. SO, IT’S THE FOUNDATION… THE BUILDING BLOCK… I JUST THINK THAT IT SHOULD BE HONORED, NOT ONLY AS A PIECE OF ART, BUT ALSO FOR EVERYTHING IT SIGNIFIES TO US AS A FAMILY… IT’S OUR HISTORY: THE AGRICULTURE AND THE FAITH, TOGETHER.” WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BIBLICAL PASSAGE REFERENCED ON THE PLAQUE, JOHN KLASSEN SAID: “PART OF OUR FAITH IS TO LEARN TO DO GOOD, SEEK JUSTICE, RESCUE THE OPPRESSED, DEFEND THE ORPHAN; PLEAD THE CAUSE OF THE WIDOW, AND THIS IS KIND OF AN EXPRESSION OF OUR FAITH IN THAT, THAT’S WHAT OUR FAITH STANDS FOR. THE QUOTATION ON THE BOTTOM THERE IS FROM THE BOOK OF ISAIAH THE PROPHET. IT SAYS THAT, “THEY SHALL BEAT THEIR SWORDS INTO PLOUGHSHARES; THEIR SPEARS INTO PRUNING HOOKS. NATIONS SHALL NOT LIFT UP SWORD AGAINST NATION; NEITHER SHALL THEY LEARN WAR ANYMORE.” AND, THE MENNONITES ARE PACIFISTS… WE WILL DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO WORK FOR PEACE BUT WE WILL NOT BE INVOLVED IN WAR.” THE FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHY OF THE ARTIST, JOHN PETER KLASSEN, WAS DEVELOPED WITH INFORMATION FROM THE BOOK ‘ARTIST AS PEACEMAKER’, PUBLISHED BY BLUFFTON COLLEGE (OHIO), 1989. KLASSEN WAS BORN IN 1888 IN CHORTITZA, UKRAINE, A MENNONITE SETTLEMENT. HE STUDIED ART IN SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY BEFORE THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR I, WHEN HE WAS CALLED BACK TO RUSSIA FOR MANDATORY SERVICE. KLASSEN AND OTHER MENNONITES SERVED WITH THE RED CROSS AS A PACIFIST ALTERNATIVE TO BEARING ARMS. IN 1921 HE MARRIED ANNA DYCK, AND THEY IMMIGRATED TO CANADA WITH THEIR YOUNG SON THE FOLLOWING YEAR. DURING THE FAMILY’S FIRST YEAR IN CANADA, KLASSEN RECEIVED AN OFFER TO JOIN THE NEW BLUFFTON COLLEGE ART FACULTY IN BLUFFTON, OHIO, WHERE THE FAMILY SETTLED IN 1924. IN 1931 KLASSEN’S APPLICATION FOR AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP WAS DENIED DUE TO HIS REFUSAL TO PLEDGE TO BEAR ARMS IN DEFENSE OF THE UNITED STATES. TWO YEARS LATER THE DECISION WAS OVERTURNED, AND LED TO A CHANGE IN THE OATH TAKEN BE APPLICANTS FOR CITIZENSHIP OF THE UNITED STATES. KLASSEN RETIRED FROM BLUFFTON COLLEGE IN 1959, AND DIED IN 1975. SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR HARDCOPIES OF THE FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCE MATERIALS.

Catalogue Number

P20140028000

Acquisition Date

2014-07

Collection

Museum

Less detail