Art Market Monitor

The Crichton estate has had a sudden change of heart. Perhaps market conditions have convinced the estate it’s a good time to sell because the four works to be sold at Christie’s–led by a Jasper Johns flag painting–will be joined by the rest of the collection. 25 works will be in the evening sale and the rest sold during the day and print sales, according to Carol Vogel in her New York Times column. Christie’s Brett Gorvy puts a nice round $100m on the whole collection:

So in addition to paintings by Jasper Johns (a friend of Mr. Crichton for more than 30 years), Robert Rauschenberg and Picasso, and a collage by Roy Lichtenstein, the auction is to sell nearly all of Mr. Crichton’s holdings — some 90 objects, many bought over the past decade. Among the works going on the block are sculptures by Claes Oldenburg and Jeff Koons, and paintings by Ed Ruscha and Andy Warhol.

Inside Art: Crichton Auction Grows (New York Times)

Also of Interest:

• The Crichton Collection
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• Crichton: Collector v. Investor
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• Complicated Crichton
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• Crichton Ate with His Art
  [Audio clip: view full post to listen] NPR’s Weekend Edition gets inside Michael Crichton’s art collection and explains how he...
  
• Johns Flag Raised at Christie’s
  Christie’s uses Carol Vogel’s New York Times column to announce a huge get for the May sales in New York....