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Complicated Crichton

March 16, 2010 by Marion Maneker

The Los Angeles Times provides elaborate details about Michael Crichton’s heirs and who will benefit from the $100 million sale of his art collection at Christie’s this May. Even though Crichton was on the board of LACMA, no art was bequeathed to a museum in his will:

Brett Gorvy, deputy chairman of Christie’s Americas, said he expects the sale to bring in about $100 million. The money will go to Crichton’s widow, children and other heirs and to pay estate taxes. The rules of inheritance for wealthy individuals such as Crichton are rarely simple, and they have provided drama in this case, which combines vast wealth and valuable works of art.

Crichton’s 2007 will provided for the vast majority of his assets, including his art, to be placed in a private trust benefiting his fifth wife, Sherri, his then-teenage daughter from a prior marriage and other family members, friends and employees as well as a charitable foundation. At the time of his death from cancer the following year, his wife was six months’ pregnant with their son, John Michael Todd. The will did not provide for the unborn child.Continue Reading

Crichton Estate Goes All In

February 26, 2010 by Marion Maneker

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)

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