Stefek’s Auctioneers and Appraisers is pleased to announce its upcoming auction, which will present the final installment of artworks from the Estate of Ray Frost Fleming. The online auction will be held on Thursday, October 29, 2015, and will be hosted through LiveAuctioneers. The auction will feature a diverse array of fine art and sculpture, much of which was originally displayed at the Robert Kidd Gallery in Birmingham, Michigan.

Ray Frost Fleming and his partner Robert Louis Kidd were co-owners of the Robert Kidd Gallery, which opened in 1976. Fleming and Kidd met as students at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, and originally opened Robert L. Kidd & Associates, a yarn studio that evolved into an influential art gallery upon commercial success. The gallery was one of the longest running galleries in metro Detroit, and is still open today in its original location on Townsend Street in downtown Birmingham.

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The auction will primarily feature a collection of artworks that exemplify the modernity and variety that defined the gallery under Fleming and Kidd’s stewardship. One noteworthy set of lots include a signed lithograph titled “Falling Star” (estimate $1,000-1,500) and associated collection of ten metal litho plates by artist Romare Howard Bearden (American, 1911-1988). A prolific artist best known for his collages, Bearden was a prominent member of the African American artistic community, with founding roles in organizations such as the Harlem Cultural Council and the Black Academy of Arts and Letters. Bearden’s work is included in collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and The

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Studio Museum in Harlem, among others, and in 1987, he was the recipient of the National Medal of Arts.

Another prominent work is a mixed media assemblage on board titled “Mimbres History Page” by artist James Havard (estimate $1,500-2,500). Havard (American, born 1937) rose to prominence as a pioneer of abstract illusionism in the 1970s, but his art has employed a diverse array of techniques and referenced numerous cultural and artistic traditions throughout his accomplished career. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian Institution, among others.

Stefek’s catalog will be available online at www.stefeksauctions.com, and interested bidders are encouraged to register through www.liveauctioneers.com.

If you would like more information about the October 29, 2015 auction, or would like to schedule an interview with Lori Stefek, please call Stefek’s Auctioneers & Appraisers at 313.881.1800 or email info@stefeksauctions.com. Stefek’s business is located at 18450 Mack Avenue, Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, between Cadieux and Moross Roads.