Art of Doctor Kevorkian

Art of Doctor Kevorkian
Do you remember Doctor Kevorkian, nicknamed Dr. Death? The auction held on October 28, 2011 will sell out the machine, designed to minimize pain when end lives. On sale also more than 100 of Kevorkian’s personal items. In particular, artwork, handwritten documents from prison, a bulletproof vest, a paint kit, a typewriter and a pearl flute. The auction will be at the New York Institute of Technology in Manhattan, with a percentage of proceeds going to the charity Kids Kicking Cancer, according to the Kevorkian Estate. Noteworthy, the paintings valued between $2.5 million to $3.5 million.

Born on May 26, 1928, Jacob “Jack” Kevorkian died June 3, 2011. He was the son of Armenian immigrants, American pathologist, euthanasia activist, painter, author, composer and instrumentalist. Best known for publicly championing a terminal patient’s right to die via physician-assisted suicide. Also, claimed to have assisted at least 130 patients to that end. He famously said, “Dying is not a crime”.

As an oil painter and a jazz musician, Kevorkian marketed limited quantities of his visual and musical artwork to the public.

Meanwhile, the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA) refused to surrender 17 paintings and other artwork by assisted-suicide advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Explaining he donated them and his estate has no right to claim them nearly 12 years after put them on display at the Watertown-based organization.

Art of Doctor Kevorkian

The paintings, in particular, were among 140 Kevorkian’s personal effects scheduled to be auctioned on Oct. 28 in New York City. And the raised money should go to a children’s cancer charity. The museum has sued Kevorkian estate’s attorney in Middlesex County Court, arguing that Kevorkian and his sister had publicly declared that he had donated the works to the organization.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian was a pathologist, oil painter, composer, jazz musician and euthanasia activist. His personal belongings are going up for auction in late October. Scheduled for auction are more than 20 paintings, Kevorkian’s art kit and the sweaters he became known for wearing during his high-profile assistance in the suicides of dozens of people in the 1990s.

Kevorkian’s artwork, produced after he enrolled in an adult education oil painting class in Pontiac, Mich., could be described as macabre, surreal, or even disturbing.

The epitaph on Kevorkian’s tombstone reads, “He sacrificed himself for everyone’s rights”
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