Sickert and the Ripper crimes : an investigation into the relationship between the Whitechapel murders of 1888 and the English tonal painter Walter Richard Sickert

by Jean Overton Fuller

In the autumn of 1888 London women lived under the shadow of the Ripper murders -- killings perhaps unmatched in their sadistic brutality.

Sickert & the Ripper Crimes derives from the unsuspected testimony of the woman who had particular reason to fear for her life. Florence Pash, friend and colleague of the artist Walter Sickert and herself an artist, confided to the author's mother when in her late eighties, a terrible story that she had kept secret even from those closest to her. She and Sickert had both known Mary Kelly, the last woman to be brutally murdered by the Ripper -- and Sickert had warned her that, because she knew what Mary Kelly knew, she could become, if she ever began to talk, the Ripper's next victim. Sickert told Florence that he was painting into his pictures clues to the murders as he wished people to know the truth after his death. Jean Overton Fuller using her artist's eye, has picked them out and read the riddle.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime

260 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Dan Brand · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better Ripper-related books.

I'm still unconvinced Sickert was JTR, but this is an interesting insight into a fascinating character, and has some intriguing personal stories. Overton Fuller's artistic expertise lends credibility to her discussion of Sickert's creepier paintings. A more balanced discussion than that of Patricia Cornwell, whose pointed silence on the earlier work of Overton Fuller does her no credit. While I don't think it makes a conclusive case for Sickert being JTR, it's a compelling look at his obsession with the killer. Much hinges on what you make of the recollections of Florence Pash, as told to the author's mum. Florence's claims to have befriended Mary Jane Kelly. The treatment of MJK is very interesting.

[Fishface · Rating 4 out of 5]

VERY hard to put down. Yet another informant comes forward about Walter Sickert's possible connection to the Ripper killings. Thought-provoking! On the other hand, I do not see the reasoning behind some of the author's conclusions -- they call for explanations she never offers. Also, my confidence in her was seriously shaken by the fact that she consistently confuses Elizabeth Stride and Annie Chapman, not only in the photo captions but in the text. Sickert is supposed to have told his son that he tried to save Mary Jane Kelly's life by pointing out Liz, because she used Mary Kelly as an alias; yet he supposedly told Florence Pash that Annie Chapman was killed by mistake because she was confused with Kelly? She never explains how, if Sickert was the lone killer, he could possibly have confused the identities of a woman he used to live with and a woman he never met.