It seemed like the perfect arrangement for a Manhattan billionaire and his fat-cat friend.
They had admired a set of three abstract paintings depicting a skull and hairy testicles and decided to buy it — and share custody.
For five years, billionaire Henry Kravis and Napa Valley vineyard owner Donald Bryant happily shuttled the Jasper Johns masterpieces between their Manhattan apartments.
In 2008, they bought the set called “Tantric Detail” for tens of millions of dollars from a Chelsea gallery, and it spent the first year at Bryant’s luxurious East 72nd Street duplex.
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The Bryants
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The Kravises
The next year, Bryant sent the triptych eight blocks to Park Avenue for a year with Kravis and his economist wife, Marie-Josée.
And so it went until 2012, when Bryant refused to yank the paintings from his wall.
He’s balking, Kravis claims, at having to continue schlepping the works between their homes — and at their agreement to eventually give the paintings to the Museum of Modern Art.
“Mr. Bryant continues to hold the artworks hostage,” Kravis fumed in a new lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
He claims Bryant reneged on “the promised gift of the art works to MoMA.”
Bryant whines it’s a burden to shuttle the pieces to Kravis’ 26-room abode by the agreed-upon drop-off time.
The Kravises don’t believe it.
“This so-called ‘issue’ is nothing more than a pretext,” the suit charges. “It served as an excuse for Mr. Bryant’s unjustifiable refusal to honor his obligation to transfer the artworks to Mr. and Mrs. Kravis by the mutually agreed date of Jan. 14, 2013.”
When the Kravises tried to claim the modernist paintings for their home in January, Bryant canceled delivery and demanded a new sharing agreement, the suit alleges.
“How could he even think that he could get away with this?” gasped art expert Michael Amy.
“These are classic Jasper Johns. It’s a loss because the public does not have access to the work of a major master.”
He said a close look will reveal a penis hidden in the painting.
“The shaft is actually masked by the crosshatches,” he said.
Johns, famous for his American flag paintings, sold the works from his private collection and helped broker the gift to MoMA, the suit says.
Mrs. Kravis, president of MoMA’s board, is also a part-owner of the painting. Her husband is the 92nd richest person in America with a $4 billion net worth, according to Forbes.
Bryant’s personal art collection includes a Picasso nude, a Jackson Pollock and a de Kooning that mixes images of testicles, bananas and tongues.
Bryant’s St. Louis company caters to other rich execs, and cabernets from his family winery are a popular if pricey vintage.
MoMA declined to comment, and Bryant did not respond to messages seeking comment.
jmarsh@nypost.com
Henry Kravis and vineyard owner in art feud
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