Minnesota has a new player to compete with high-flying auction houses such as Christie's and Sotheby's. Revere Auctions claims to be the first such company in the Twin Cities that specializes in the sale of fine art.
The auction house has been welcomed by local art connoisseurs, who say it provides new opportunities for collectors here, while helping to keep Minnesota-owned treasures from leaving the state.
"Communities the size of Minneapolis and St. Paul typically have an art auction house," said Minneapolis Institute of Art curator Tom Rassieur. "It's high time that the Twin Cities have one, too."
Revere's next live auction happens Saturday, featuring American Indian and decorative art.
Founded last December, Revere sells a wide range of art, from famed contemporary artists such as Jasper Johns and Frank Stella, to notable objects that otherwise might have gone to an estate sale, like the native pottery it will auction Saturday at its offices in Minneapolis.
"Christie's and Sotheby's do fine things in more the top end, and then there's a huge gap in between, where it's more specialized in serious art that is under the wires of the other places," said Jim Billings, a Twin Cities art appraiser. "Revere Auctions is more specialized, and Sotheby's cannot afford to deal with a certain level of things that take more research."
Typically, artworks from estate sales are shipped to bigger auction houses, meaning many valuable art objects leave Minnesota, likely never to return. Revere founders Robert Snell and Sean Blanchet are hoping to change that.
"It's been a frustration of mine and other people that this focused service has not been available in our community," said Rassieur, who leads the Art Institute's prints and drawings department. "Otherwise it's going down to Chicago, and for many people that's an inconvenience and a barrier to participating in auctions."
