Thomas Cleary LLC
Tom Cleary is the founder of Thomas Cleary LLC, a by-appointment brokerage firm which specializes in the buying, selling and appraising of high-end antique American Indian Art. Prior to starting this company, Mr. Cleary served as the Director of H. Malcolm Grimmer in Santa Fe, NM, for seven years.
“I am often asked if millennials collect, for there is this idea that, somehow, the collecting bug has skipped a generation.
Well, I’m living proof that that’s just not true.”
- Thomas Cleary
Mr. Cleary has produced articles and catalogues on American Indian Art, including The Pathway to Beauty: Plains Indian Moccasins (2016), The Sheridan Pages: At the Heart of the Southern Cheyenne Warrior (2014), The Macnider Ledger Book: Coloring the Plains (2013) and BraveArt: The Emergence of Tribal Style on the Plains (2006). He has discussed the importance of American Indian Art in interviews, both on public radio and also in articles published by the New York Times, BlouinArt+Auction and Cowboys & Indians Magazine. He has also lectured internationally and domestically on the collectability of American Indian Art.
A graduate of Colorado College with high distinction in Art History, Mr. Cleary has also had the privilege of working for several museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, NY, and the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington D.C. He continues to work closely with museums today.
Mr. Cleary is a candidate with the American Society of Appraisers, and also an elected member of the Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association Legal Committee.