Patriotism = $$$$

Michael Ovitz has one. David Geffen has another. Eli Broad has a couple. Just what is it about Jasper Johns's early "Flag" paintings that make some blue-chip collectors seem so, well, patriotic? It is clearly these aficionados are collecting for a more apparent reason $$$$, AND that is a very good reason to collect. Currently the Art market as it is now being called is spurring with well to do entrepreneurs who see lots of cash to be made from trades and exchanges. One must question though, whether these artworks are really being patronized through the manner of how they are being sold to be stored in some collectors basement only to be introduced to another. Furthermore, one must question what is the public to gain out of this? do we ever get to see the real thing, or will we keep being disassociated from such well known artwork if this keeps up?
You can hear Ovitz rhapsodizing about the painted stars and stripes for yourself. For along with the usual auction catalogue for Tuesday night's sale of the Michael Crichton estate, which includes a 1960-66 "Flag" (right) among other works. The cast of characters includes Christie's contemporary co-head Brett Gorvy, Crichton's fifth wife Sherri and master printmaker Ken Tyler. But the star turn belongs to Ovitz, who was Crichton's agent for 30 years.

“We both owned several works of Jasper over the years from different periods and always spoke of the dream of owning a Flag,” says Ovitz about half-way into the video, going on to describe how Johns's first "Flag" images broke from the then-dominant style of painting (i.e., Abstract Expressionism) and ushered in new experiments (i.e., Pop Art).Crichton bought his red-white-and-blue “Flag,” 1960-66, made of encaustic and paper on canvas, directly from the artist in 1973. Christie's is offering it Tuesday night with an estimate of $10 to $15 million.
Ovitz bought his highly textured "White Flag," 1955-58, at Christie’s in 1988 for about $7 million. He has given it pride of place in his home ever since. When I interviewed him once for an ARTnews "Top 200 Collectors" issue, he singled out "White Flag" as the centerpiece in his collection.
Unfortunately the best “Flag” paintings in Southern California cannot always be seen in person. In New York the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan both have great examples of these paintings, of which there are around 20 in existence. L.A. museums do not.
Rather, the best "Flags" out here are buried in private collections. David Geffen has one example, vertical in orientation. Eli Broad's foundation owns, along with a darker variation from 1994, two "Flags" from the 1960s. One is white like Ovitz’s. The other, colored like Crichton’s but significantly larger,went on display at the Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA until Broad withdrew the bulk of his collection from the museum in late 2008.