Daily Mail, UK
Oct 1 2011
Art by Dr Death: Jack Kevorkian’s paintings go on sale… including
one where he used his own blood
By Daily Mail Reporter
He was nicknamed ‘Dr Death’ for helping dozens of people commit
suicide in the 1990s and spent eight years in prison for second-degree
murder.
Now, the late Jack Kevorkian’s paintings, writings and iconic blue
sweaters are being sold in a controversial auction in New York this
month.
Many of the 20 paintings by the pathologist, who died in June aged 83,
depict death or dying, and are often intended to provoke or disturb.
One of those up for auction is entitled ‘Genocide,’ and features a
bloody head being dangled by the hair and held by the hands of two
soldiers.
One wears a German military uniform from World War II and the other a
Turkish uniform from World War I to depict the mass killings of
Armenians and Jews during World I and World War II, respectively.
Kevorkian painted the frame with his own blood and wanted to have a
skeleton with an IV flowing through it next to the painting, according
to Suburban Detroit art gallery owner Anne Kuffler.
Ms Kuffler, who had previously exhibited the pathologist’s work, put
him off the idea however.
‘He said: “I want to show how horrible it is, I want people to be
upset by it,”‘ she said.
‘I said: “If you haven’t portrayed it in your painting, then you
haven’t succeeded.”‘
The gallery owner revealed there had already been interest in the
paintings up for auction.
Ms Kuffler, who sells signed and numbered lithographs of six of his
works for $500 apiece, said she was offered $100,000 for one of his
original paintings in 1994 and believes the value of work would have
increased since then.
Kevorkian’s lawyer Mayer Morganroth, said he didn’t know the value of
the collection but most of the proceeds will go to the doctor’s sole
heir – a niece – and the charity Kicking Cancer for Kids.
Morganroth said the timing was right to sell the items, since there
was interest from several auction houses and the broader art world, as
well as a desire to settle the estate.
Many of the paintings have been hanging at the Armenian Library and
Museum of America in Watertown, Massachusetts, which also has a
collection of his compositions and writings.
Kevorkian was also a keen musician and composer.
‘I think the legacy is showing the many facets of him and his
capabilities,’ Morganroth said. ‘He was a multi-talented man.’
BOX: DR DEATH’S 1999 CONVICTION
As an advocate of voluntary euthanasia, he helped dozens of people to
end their lives in the 1990s and famously said that dying was not a
crime.
But, it wasn’t until 1999 that Jack Kevorkian was charged with
second-degree murder.
In September 1998, he’d helped Thomas Youk, who was in the final
stages of Lou Gehrig’s disease – a form of motor neuron disease – to
end his life by administering a lethal injection.
This was significant as it was reported Kevorkian’s earlier clients
had administered the drugs themselves. On November 22 a videotape of
Youk’s death was broadcast on U.S. programme 60 Minutes. In the tape
Kevorkian dared the police to try to convict him or stop him from
carrying out mercy killings.
They didn’t hang around. Just four months later Kevorkian was charged
with second-degree murder. Later in his trial Kevorkian dismissed his
lawyers to represent himself, and after two days the jury found him
guilty. He was sentenced to 10-25 years in prison.
He served eight and, after being repeatedly turned down, was granted
parole in 2007, on condition he would not offer suicide advice to
anyone.
He died in June this year aged 83.
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