Artist Erin Crowe, 24, who wanted to make some cash before graduate school, spent nearly two years after college making oil-on-canvas portraits of Greenspan.
By Associated Press
Published August 16, 2005
RICHMOND, Va. - An artist looking to make some cash before graduate school is causing a stir with her oil paintings of Alan Greenspan, some bought by fans of the Federal Reserve chairman sight unseen.
Erin Crowe spent nearly two years after college making oil-on-canvas portraits of Greenspan, giving them titles such as I Gotta Tell Ya , Laughing Alan and Humpht.
"He has a great face for portraiture. Each painting I did, I wanted to do more," the Charlottesville artist said in a phone interview. "It's fascinating: his hands, the wrinkles in his face, his forehead, his combover."
Crowe, 24, displayed her art last week at a family friend's gallery in Sag Harbor, N.Y., in hopes of earning some money before heading to London in October. Several Greenspans were sold at her show's opening, but the real frenzy started after her works were featured in a segment on a cable financial news channel.
"It was like a gold rush," gallery co-owner Rebecca Cooper said. "People were stampeding, and the phone was ringing off the hook. By the end of the day, every single piece was sold."
Eighteen paintings were sold, mostly to Wall Street types, for $1,000 to $4,000. The gallery took orders for large runs of prints.
Money managers and others in the financial business called from all over the country looking for a Greenspan, said Sally Breen, the family friend. "One of my first sales was this woman from Pennsylvania who says he's her hero."
Lou Guida of Vero Beach was thrilled his wife, Rose, jumped on the phone to buy It's Killing Me and If You Say So . They will go in Guida's home and his son-in-law's office.
Guida, who retired as a senior vice president at Merrill Lynch in 1987, said the paintings are meaningful because of Greenspan's ability during his 18-year stint to do "a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. Not many people can walk in his shoes."
"Not only is he going to go down as an icon, he's retiring," Guida said. "These are going to become collector's items."
Federal Reserve spokeswoman Michelle Smith said Greenspan had no comment.
Crowe started painting Greenspan after graduating from the University of Virginia in 2003. She did some work for a Charlottesville arts festival with a money theme and decided to focus on Greenspan.
"There was nobody else I thought to do, really," she said. "He was the figurehead of monetary policy."
Those missing out on Crowe's initial paintings have requested commissioned works, and the artist is weighing whether to tackle them.
She plans to write the Fed chairman a letter to explain herself.
"I hope I haven't scared him or Andrea Mitchell, his wife," she said. "It was a healthy obsession, really."
