Aug 13, 2020 - Sale 2544

Sale 2544 - Lot 228

Price Realized: $ 4,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000

FREDDIE STYLES (1944-)


The Red Door.
Acrylic on board, 610x610 mm, 24x24 inches. Signed and dated in acrylic, lower right. 1980.

A Georgia native, Freddie Styles attended Morris Brown College and lives in Atlanta. He was an artist-in-residence at Clark Atlanta University and Spelman College, and was the recipient of purchase awards from the Atlanta Life Insurance Company. His work can be found in the collections of the High Museum, Spelman College Museum of Art, Clark Atlanta University and the Paul R. Jones Collection, University of Delaware.

Provenance: collection of the artist.

Exhibited: Artists in Georgia 1980, the High Museum, Atlanta, GA, November 8 - December 31, 1980, with the label on the frame back.

Additional Details

The artist included the following statement, describing the significance of this early and formative artwork:

"This piece is the central panel of a triptych I did in 1980 depicting the block on Hunter Street, now MLK. between Ashby and Mayson Turner Streets in Atlanta, GA. This panel illustrating a red door slightly ajar revealing a silver lining is the entrance to an enchanted place where young gay men dream of becoming of age to enter. The Red Door is the entrance to the legendary gay club known as the 'Marquette,' sometimes referred to as the "Quesy."