Ronnie Kray paintings on sale
A frustratingly brief piece pops up on the radar courtesy of the Press Association, saying that seven paintings by the late East End gangster Ronnie Kray are set to be auctioned. However there’s very little in the way of what, where and by who, so if anybody knows anything, please post a comment to this story.
The works, which date from the early 1970s, in the early years of Ronnie’s life sentence, will be auctioned in Sudbury, Suffolk, on 26 July. Ronnie, who died aged 61 in 1995, and his identical twin Reggie (who died a few years later, as did older brother Charlie), was a terrifyingly violent man who used his years of incarceration to explore the other side of his character, through books, writing, art and a deal of spiritual self examination. I don’t know if the paintings are any good, but they should be interesting to see.
Tags: charlie kray, reggie kray, ronnie kray, The Kray Twins
January 2nd, 2009 at 6:06 pm
I have not seen the paintings, but I can only hope that the proceeds from the sale will go to some sort of charity. I do not think that society ought to “glamourise” criminals. And that is what they were at the end of the day. I shudder at the thought that the proceeds might go to anything other than charity.
May 11th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Agree with Anna in the previous comment, I came from the area where the Krays ruled their criminal Empire from, most of the people from Bethnal Green were afraid of them, if they came into any of the local pubs you could see that the other customers felt uneasy, they did not just beat up rival villians they also attacked other people who stared at them, I know this is true as my dad was in a pub when this happened one night. I can’t understand people who look up to the Krays as heroes they did some terrible deeds murder and their criminal activities in the area kept them in a good lifestyle. I haven’t seen these paintings, I wonder what the subject matter is. Reggie Kray’s wife Frances poor girl was only 23 years old when she killed herself a few years after their marriage, it has been suggested that Ronnie Kray may have had something to do with that it would not surprise me. The East-End was well rid of the Krays when they were imprisoned in the late 60’s they gave the place a bad name, they thought they were beynold the law but the law had the last laugh. I think they got their just deserts for the evil deeds that they did.
Carole Heath Wallington Surrey and exEast-Ender