Amy Winehouse Blood Painting Up for Auction
Image by Getty Images
An art piece made by the late singer Amy Winehouse — using her own blood — will be auctioned off at the Cob Gallery in London. The self-portrait, titled “Ladylike,” is part of a collection by Pete Doherty, called “On Blood,” which was on view at the gallery earlier this year.
Doherty, known primarily as co-frontman for The Libertines, as well as for his membership in indie band Babyshambles, is also a visual artist. It has been reported that he was very close with Winehouse, and that he invited her to create an artwork with him. “Amy was on the phone to her dad when she did that [painting]. She said, ‘Dad, I’m with Pete and he’s making me draw with my blood!’ He didn’t like me much, her dad,” Doherty told The Independent in February. The Shmooze can’t imagine why.
“Ladylike” was not on sale during Doherty’s 10-day exhibition at the Cob Gallery, because of the “personal nature” of the piece. But it is now up for auction and is expected to bring in far in excess of the $15,000 that each of Doherty’s paintings is expected to fetch. According to the gallery’s catalogue, Winehouse’s piece is expected to sell somewhere between $80,000 and $129,000. Knowing how many of Winehouse’s fans desperately miss her since her death from accidental alcohol poisoning last summer, it wouldn’t be surprising if her blood was worth even more than that.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
