SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – A Sioux Falls gallery is selling paintings and a bronze sculpture owned by the late U.S. Sen. George McGovern and his wife, Eleanor.
A portion of the proceeds will be given to a charity chosen by the McGoverns’ daughters, The Argus Leader reported.
George McGovern died Oct. 12, 2012, almost six years after Eleanor McGovern passed away. The couple’s three daughters have entrusted a portion of their parents’ art collection to Steve and Tove Bormes, owners of Rug & Relic.
The collection is on display at the gallery and store at Eigth Street and Railroad Center in Sioux Falls. The gallery was taking part in Friday night’s First Friday Art & Wine Talk, with the McGovern collection on sale.
Tove Bormes said the McGoverns were not stuck on one genre of painting. “The type of art ranges from classical realism to impressionist to abstract.”
Nine or 10 items are on sale. Prices range from $1,000 to $60,000, and the value will be provided upon request.
“Some of them are masterworks, really, really, really good works,” Bormes said.
Ann McGovern said her parents’ collection began in the 1950s. She said the first original pieces collected by her parents were by South Dakota native Oscar Howe, who taught at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell at the same time as McGovern.
She said her mother liked Native American Art, and her parents expanded their collection when McGovern was elected to Congress and they were traveling abroad.
“A lot of the art came from their travels, but it started with Oscar Howe,” Ann McGovern said. “There wasn’t any intention for the art to be like an investment or to have the ‘in’ paintings in their collection. It was motivated by love more than anything else.”
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Information from: Argus Leader, http://www.argusleader.com
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AP-WF-10-04-13 1801GMT
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