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The Krays, as seen by a serial poisoner
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent2 Mar 2009
SEVEN paintings created by the Kray twins during prison art classes were going under the hammer today — despite their distinct lack of artistic merit.
The works of notorious gangsters Reggie and Ronnie were painted in the Seventies when they were serving life sentences in Parkhurst prison on the Isle Of Wight.
They were due to go under the hammer at Hampshire Auctions in Andover where auctioneer Christine Smith said: “The paintings are very naive and have a childlike quality.
“They are fascinating and you can get an insight into their heads. They are hardly works of art but I am sure no-one will have told them they weren't any good.”
Also up for sale is a portrait of the twins, done in Parkhurst and signed by G Young, who is believed to be poisoner Graham Young who murdered his stepmother and two work colleagues. He was jailed in 1972 aged 24 and died in his cell in 1990.
The four landscapes by Ronnie all feature a small white cottage in rural scenes. Others by Reggie include a painting appearing to show the brothers walking through a white picket fence dressed in top hat and tails and another showing a wild sea with huge waves.
The works have a list price of between £500-800 but auctioneers believe they could fetch up to £2,000 each.
Young, dubbed the “teacup poisoner”, killed twice after he was released from Broadmoor for the murder of his stepmother Molly at their Neasden home in 1962. He was just 14 when he laced food with antimony and digitalis. He told psychiatrists he had been fascinated by poison from a young age.
Released nine years later, he started work at a photographic supply studio, giving him access to dangerous chemicals. He put them in his colleagues' tea, killing two and leaving up to 70 others ill.
Reader views (1)
much of 'modern art' is without artistic merit.
any fool cut shove a creature in preservative, or leave the bed unmade and call it art, at least the krays have a bit of a notorious track record that will give them a dubious kudos in history. like jack the ripper, christie,
the great train robbers and untold others.
who says crime doesn't pay.
a good few ' artists' have got away with fraud, deception and taken the money and ran.
- M.O'Brien, london.uk, 02/03/2009 17:18
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