Were my Raquel Welch and Michael Jackson portraits painted by Ted Bundy?

A question for Twisted Art Historians everywhere*

(*It's not for me to decide which noun Twisted modifies)

Just before leaving Phoenix years ago, Peter Gilstrap and Bettie Rinehart held a yard sale at which I bought a bass guitar amp, a bass guitar hand-painted with fish by Bettie, and two irresistible paintings. One depicts Raquel Welch in her Kansas City Bomber days; the other features a glittery, still identifiably black, single-glove-era Michael Jackson.

Each painting is signed in the lower right corner with a single name: Bundy.

Given Al Bundy's fictional ontology, the next-most-famous Bundy name has to be that of executed, electrocuted serial killer Theodore Robert "Ted" Bundy (sorry, McGeorge).

When he sold me the paintings, Gilstrap mentioned the possibility that they'd been painted by Ted Bundy. In 1996, Gilstrap (whom you may know from Jesus of the Week or "Snatching Sinatra") had written an article about them called "Was Ted Bundy Framed?" He tried to find out whether Ted Bundy really painted these two works. You should read Pete's article for the story. This page will still be here for you to return to when you're finished. No foolin'. Don't have time? Okay, I'll summarize: there is as yet no definitive answer.

An Arizona State University art professor quoted in Gilstrap's article calls the paintings "competent illustrations, very student-competent." Professor Smartypants goes on to say that they're "Very commercial, and from that perspective, they're kind of mediocre."

I say, you can't discount the difficulty of painting a good likeness -- it isn't easy to do (which is the main reason that currency features representations of familiar faces).

One thing I did not notice until photographing the paintings for this page: the Raquel Welch painting appears to have been signed not only by the mysterious Bundy but also by the Kansas City Bomber herself.

(Click the image for a larger version, which is much clearer.)

Though unfortunately signed with some sort of crappy pen, the writing is legible in certain types of light, and appears to say:

To Bundy --
Love,
Raquel

Is the Raquel autograph genuine? For comparison, here's another autograph claimed to be Raquel Welch's:

Closeup of same:

The painting has Love rather than Fond wishes, and no last name, just Raquel. Could that indicate familiarity with the painter? Another difference is the T in To -- one is cursive, the other block. The Raquels are fairly consistent with one another, and both inscriptions are slanted at about the same angle (though maybe that's just the position a right-handed person's arm would tend to end up in while signing a large item.)

It does seem odd that she'd sign it simply to "Bundy," with no first name (or last name, if Bundy is the artist's first name). One could argue that this indicates that she knew the artist, but someone else could just as well say that she was only copying the artist's name as signed on the painting.

Can you help solve this mystery? If you:

• know whether Ted Bundy painted, or
• know of another likely artist named Bundy, or
• have any other information that could be of help, or maybe even
• know Raquel Welch personally...

...please contact DoC. (See responses below....)

Comments:

From: nick s.
Date: Sat, 21 May 2005

Hi,
I unfortunately have no information to offer you regarding the authenticity of these paintings, but I was wondering if perhaps anyone had? In other words I was wondering if you have been able to prove that they were by Ted Bundy? I am a collector of serial killer art and would be very intrigued to know i they were or were not painted by Bundy.

no word on it yet. i've been hoping some serial killer collector expert such as yourself would be able to tell me.
do you know of any samples of ted bundy art to which mine could be compared?

I wouldn't really call myself an expert I do know of most serial killers that painted or have dabbled in artwork to some degree. As far as I know Bundy did not produce much artwork and most people that I have spoken to do not know either, mainly because Bundy was executed before serial killer art was really collected by many people. I have been told that he did a few drawings in prison, so I would not rule out the possibility of him painting, but I have no specific examples to compare them too, that is why I emailed you to see if you had found out any info. If you do find anything out let me know as I would be very interested to find out the outcome. Put it this way, if they are real then they would be very valuable as no known Bundy artwork has been circulated. Good luck finding out some info and I hope you do find out if they are austhentic or not.

From: Bruce L.
Date: Sat, 16 Sep 2006

I was one of Ted Bundy's lawyers in Utah in 1975-76, and I stayed in touch with him when he was in Colorado and Floriday. He gave most of his possessions when he left Utah, extradited to Colorado. I got most of his writings and books and his desk, prison clothing, etc. There were no paintings of any kind that he gave me. When he left the Utah Prison he gave me most of his "stuff" (which was not much) and there were no paintings. I do not know if he did anything while in Florida on death row, but it seems to me unlikely. I never saw any paintings nor heard of any paintings he did, and his wife Carole Boone wrote me several times. I sent her most of the stuff I got in 1976, and there were no paintings. I hope this helps some.

indeed it does, sir. gracias.