Financiers Now Embarrassed To Display High-Priced Greenspan Portraits From Artist Erin Crowe

The legacy of Alan Greenspan likely cost taxpayers hundreds of billions. But, as The Wall Street Journal notes, it's also hurt the value of the somewhat odd works by painter Erin Crowe.

In 2005, after finishing up graduate school, Crowe took up painting portraits of Greenspan, the free-market champion and former Federal Reserve Chairman dubbed "The Maestro" by Bob Woodward. As the Washington Post reported in 2005, things got crazy for Crowe after CNBC aired a segment featuring her paintings, which have titles like "I Gotta Tell Ya" and "Humpf."

The unauthorized Greenpsan portraits quickly began being snatched up by financiers and hedge funders for prices of up to $12,500. Crowe says that she originally began painting Greenspan's portrait as a challenge, and thought of him as a kind of pop icon.

But, wow, things have changed. The WSJ notes that one lawyer currently hides his Greenspan under his bed, another buyer hides them away in his summer home. And a hedge fund owner in New York City still has two paintings of Greenpsan's memorable mug hung in his office, but he's certainly not happy about it. Here's the WSJ:

"What I should do is make them into a dart board," says Charles Gradante, who with his wife, Lee Hennessee, runs the Fifth Avenue firm that advises investors in hedge funds. "All I see when I look at these paintings are two market crashes, a bear market, and the current economic crisis."