New & Noteworthy
Stay up to date with news, highlights, & features from across Freeman's.
Stay up to date with news, highlights, & features from across Freeman's.
To mark 100 years of service, Freeman’s is honored to present a collection of works being sold to benefit the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s 100th Anniversary Campaign. The collection appears in Freeman’s May 12 Old Masters & 19th Century Art sale, May 13 Post-War & Contemporary Art auction, May 14 Collect: Post-War & Contemporary Art sale, and June 17 Collect: American & European Art auction. Collectors are invited to participate not only in acquiring art but also in supporting the community. Explore selections from specialists Zack Wirsum and David Weiss, including works from different centuries and styles, selected for their quality and broad appeal. Each purchase supports the United Way’s mission to strengthen communities across Southwestern Pennsylvania. “Lot 96, The Old Port of Marblehead, c. 1840, in our May 12 auction, is a great example of Roy Cross’s marine art. There is a strong tradition of recording ships that dates to the 17th century in Europe, and Cross, a largely self-taught British artist who initially began as an illustrator of aircraft subjects, proudly carried on this tradition of depicting marine subjects with great optical fidelity, as in the present work. “ – David Weiss, Senior Vice President, Fine Art “Janet Fish’s Pink Ribbon and Yellow Ribbon, 1981, is an extraordinary representation of the artist’s unique approach to photorealistic still-life painting, well composed and richly colored with implications of deeper meaning. Beyond the superficial technical and formal virtuosity of the rendering of light, reflection, and illusionistic space, the painting conceptually ponders traditional notions of femininity through the loaded,layered arrangement of domestic objects. The titular ribbons, a clear focal point commonly associated with wrapping presents and tying things with a bow, are significantly unfurled, drawing the viewer’s gaze further into the picture plane and revealing the gorgeous gift of the painting itself.” – Zack Wirsum, Senior Vice President, Head of Department, Post War & Contemporary Art
Join us as we spotlight David Weiss, Senior Vice President, Fine Art, ahead of our Old Masters & 19th Century Artauction, to be held live in New York on May 12. Learn about his journey in the world of fine art, notable achievements at Freeman’s, and his favorite lots from our upcoming sale.
“As a kid I was a voracious reader. I was accumulating books through my twenties, and by my thirties I could afford the ones I really wanted.” For Stephen J. Farber, collecting was never simply about acquisition—it was about connection. Over decades, he assembled a library that reflects not only literary history, but a life shaped by curiosity, discipline, and enduring passion. Born in New York City and raised in Miami Beach, Farber built a distinguished career in medicine, with professional chapters spanning cities across the United States. Throughout these years, books remained a constant. What began with a love of reading in childhood evolved into a lifelong pursuit of rare and meaningful works across literature, science fiction, philosophy, and social thought. Farber’s approach to collecting was guided not by market trends, but by personal resonance. His library was built on instinct, intellectual engagement, and a deep appreciation for the written word. The result is a collection that feels cohesive yet expansive—each volume contributing to a broader narrative of inquiry and discovery. The collection includes first editions and important works by some of the most influential writers in history. Among the highlights is George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, a defining work of twentieth-century literature. Also featured is J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, a cornerstone of modern fantasy, as well as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a foundational text in both literature and science fiction. These works sit alongside important philosophical writings, including Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, reflecting the intellectual breadth of the collection. Equally notable is the care with which the collection has been preserved. Housed in custom-built shelving with glass enclosures, Farber’s library reflects a commitment not only to collecting, but to stewardship. The condition and presentation of each volume underscore a reverence for the book as both object and artifact. The decision to bring this collection to auction marks a new chapter—one that extends its life beyond a single collector. As Farber himself expressed, the goal is simple: to place these books in the hands of those who will value and appreciate them. The Library of Stephen J. Farber is more than a collection—it is a testament to a life shaped by reading, reflection, and an enduring pursuit of knowledge.
Few designers capture the spirit of the 1920s quite like Clarice Cliff. Bold, unconventional, and unapologetically joyful, her work redefined ceramic design—bringing color, abstraction, and artistic authorship into the home. Cliff emerged as one of the defining voices of the Art Deco movement, creating pottery that stood in stark contrast to traditional English wares. Her early Bizarre line—both a brand and a philosophy—celebrated experimentation, asymmetry, and expressive freedom. At a time when many designers remained anonymous, Cliff signed her work, asserting creative ownership and elevating ceramics into the realm of fine art. Her production model was as innovative as her designs. Cliff trained and oversaw a team of young decorators—some as young as 14—who hand-painted her bold patterns across ceramic forms. This approach allowed for scale while preserving a sense of individuality, resulting in pieces that feel both dynamic and deeply personal. Her forms were designed with intention, with broad surfaces serving as canvases for geometric and architectural compositions. Travel and exposure to European modernism shaped Cliff’s visual vocabulary. Influences from Cubism and abstraction merged with a distinctly British sensibility. Patterns such as Sunray exemplify this synthesis, with radiating color fields, stylized landscapes, and strong graphic symmetry that evoke the optimism and energy of the interwar years. Among her most iconic works are the Jazz Age figures—stylized ceramic sculptures that capture movement, performance, and modern femininity. Equally notable are her sculptural vessels, including the Lotus Jug, and her vividly patterned wares inspired by leisure and contemporary life. These objects blur the boundary between function and art, embodying a new vision for domestic design. Nearly a century later, Cliff’s work remains strikingly contemporary. Her fearless use of color and form anticipated modern design movements, and her pieces continue to resonate with collectors for their vibrancy and originality. As Cliff herself declared, “Women today want continual change—they will have color and plenty of it.” Explore works by Clarice Cliff in our upcoming Design sale.
In his one hundred years on this Earth and eight decades devoted to art making, Richard Mayhew (American, 1924-2024) left an indelible mark on the world he represented so beautifully in his lyrically colored, ethereal landscapes, which uniquely synthesized the painterly languages of abstraction and objectivity. Born in Amityville, New York, in 1924 to parents of Native and African American ancestry, Mayhew fittingly and foreshadowing his future output first drew artistic inspiration from the moody atmospheric canvases of Tonalist George Inness, the figurative father of American landscape painting, during boyhood trips to New York City museums with his mother. As a teenager, Mayhew honed his artistic skills, specifically his observational draftsmanship, training as a medical illustrator, before having his educational journey interrupted by service in the Marines during World War II. Mayhew’s immediate Post War years saw him return to his studies, enrolling in academic courses at Columbia University and studio classes at the Art Students League of New York and the Brooklyn Museum Art School, while supporting himself with work as a jazz singer and painting decorative patterns on porcelain China. Mayhew entirely turned his attentions to the visual arts as his primary mode of expression following his first solo exhibition in 1955 and a return to Europe, this time for enlightening scholarship, on a John Hay Whitney Fellowship in 1958. After returning stateside, Mayhew impactfully became a foundational member of Spiral, a creative collective of African American artists that included Romare Bearden, Norman Lewis, Charles White, and Hale Woodruff, among others, and became a forum for exploring the Civil Rights Movement’s impact on the respective artists and the role their art practices could play in promoting the cause. Inspired by the socially conscious concerns of his work with Spiral, Mayhew came to believe that art could serve as the great unifier, with true equality achieved through the shared emotion expressed and observed in the beauty of pigment and shapes composed on the surface of an artwork. Using the literal common ground of the landscape as an anchoring framework, Mayhew established a visionary visual language that distills the diverse, essential experiences of both his historically oppressed heritages through sublimely saturated, abstractly rendered liminal natural spaces, in hopes of achieving a greater understanding and equitable empathy for all aspects of individual and universal humanity. These painted environments, poignantly devoid of figural subjects, demonstrate a ubiquitous dichotomy of hope and pain, with the emptiness displayed ambiguously open to interpretation, either reflecting the potential for progressive occupation or the loss of those removed from the static scene. In content and concept, we see that the sky, fields, and trees were here before us and will remain after us, and the knowledge of this reality is so powerfully human; it is this that Mayhew meaningfully captures in his poetically transcendent paintings. Painted at the dawn of a new millennium and amid the autumn of Mayhew’s life, in Finale, 2001, we see a mature artist at the peak of his powers, flexing his creative muscles while employing his full repertoire of painterly tricks. This dazzling work depicts a hazy mirage, the fuzzy frequency of memory, a vivid otherworldly dancing dreamscape, at once invitingly comfortable and unsettlingly ominous, either way a magnetically attractive place to be, all set for the final act, as the title would suggest. In the frontstage foreground, fiery foliage in orange, magenta, and purple blazes vibrantly, rhythmically vibrating against a soft landing of buttery yellow pillows and smudgy smears of pale green; a spotlit playfield, an open arena poised for a punctuating performance. A seductive ribbon of a sultry blue stream winds through the central plane, tracing a path and drawing the viewer’s gaze deeper into the hypnotic hues of the introspective created realm. Providing a tethering backdrop is a weighty wall of trees, deeply toned and gestural, giving gravitas to the scene as the transportive gloaming of the magic hour blue punctures the dark leaves, both lightening the mood and lighting the stage, signaling that soon the curtain will close. Planted firmly in naturalistic painterly perfection, Finale is a standalone class act, a masterwork and testament that there is truth in Mayhew’s belief that we can all come together as one to behold the magnificence of the collective conscious landscapes we all inhabit. Post-War & Contemporary Art Live | New York May 13 | 10:00 AM EDT
This exquisitely rendered still life is by the artist Johann Wilhelm Preyer, a student of the Düsseldorf School of painting, and one of the few of that school to specialize in still lifes.
A great collection is never only about ownership; it is about recognition. The more than 120 works in this single-owner collection span centuries and civilizations, from Roman marble sculpture and Greek arms and armor to Egyptian amulets, South Arabian works, Near Eastern votives, and precious objects in silver and gold.
Join Darren Winston, Senior Vice President, Head of Department, Books & Manuscripts, Philadelphia, as he speaks to renowned Titanic Historian William Brower ahead of Freeman’ssale ofJohn Jacob Astor IV's Tiffany & Co.-Signed Patek Philippe pocket watch and gold Battin & Co. pencil to auction in our upcoming April 22 Watches sale. Darren Winston: Tell us a bit about your journey studying the RMS Titanic and what sparked your scholarly interest in this vessel and its ultimate demise? William Brower: I’ve always had an interest in history and shipwrecks. I saw Raise the Titanic at age five with my grandfather, and the opening sequence shows the real ship. Since I was captivated, my grandfather bought me a copy of A NIGHT to REMEMBER by Walter Lord and read one chapter each night before I went to bed. My summer visits with him included random aspects of the Titanic that helped shape my future, such as writing formal letters and making international calls, where I soon became friends with four survivors of the wreck. Before he passed from cancer when I was thirteen, he regifted me a copy of DISCOVERY of the TITANIC with a typed dedication to me and asked me to promise him I’d continue my research and share it with others as he’d done with me. In the fall of 1994, after I graduated high school, I developed a touring museum of the collection that I’d been building since age five and wrote a monologue based on the survivors’ accounts, who gave me permission to share their stories. I titled it Titanic: The Legacy Remains, and of my forty published works, five are strictly on Titanic herself; this summer marks forty-six years of research for me. DW: For those who may not be as familiar, can you share the significance of John Jacob Astor IV aboard the Titanic and what we know about his final hours? WB: JJ was quite a progressive man for his time, and although his marriage to Madeline drew quite a scandal, his reputation beforehand was forward-thinking and cunning. He even had one of the first science fiction books published in the States, in which he envisioned what life would be like in the year 2000! The return home on the Titanic was to finish the honeymoon with the new Mrs. Astor and their Airedale Terrier, Kitty. During the early moments after the collision, Madeline grew nervous amid the commotion on deck and was equally concerned about the baby she was carrying. JJ brought her into Titanic’s Gym on the Boat Deck, and while they waited in the heat for further instructions, he casually produced a penknife and cut one of the life jackets to show her what was inside. Once she was comfortable, he escorted her down to the Promenade Deck and helped her aboard Lifeboat 4. When asked about joining, given her five-month pregnancy, Second Officer Charles Lightoller declined, stating that it was women and children first. JJ kissed Madeline’s hand and stepped aside as the boat was lowered. During the last hour, he’s reported to have gone aft and released the dogs from their kennels near the stern. Of the twelve on board, only three would survive. He was last seen during the Titanic’s final plunge, being washed overboard from the roof of the Officer’s Quarters with Chief Officer Wilde, plus many others. DW: From your perspective as a Titanic historian, how rare is it to encounter personal objects that can be directly connected to passengers from the voyage? WB: Personal items are quite rare outside of the artifacts recovered by RMS Titanic Inc. however, they still bring chills and draw attention when produced. DW: Based on your research and understanding of the Astor family history, what makes this watch and pencil particularly compelling within the broader story of Titanic artifacts? WB: JJ was famous before boarding the Titanic, but his presence as the richest man on board drew much coverage once his travel plans were confirmed. Knowing his actions, I’ve often pictured him using his methodical personality by glancing at the watch on occasion while on the deck waiting to see whatever fate lay ahead for him. DW: Why do objects like these continue to resonate more than a century later—with historians, collectors, and the public alike? WB: One hundred and fourteen years have passed since the Titanic went down. She’s become more of a legend or film prop, but with the items available, it's the reverence and gravity that remind us that this actually happened. Lucien Smith, like JJ, was on his honeymoon and joined the Astors in Egypt and the holy lands. He wrote to his sister at home, announcing their plans to return on board the Titanic. A week later, Lucien’s sister sent her mother a package containing his letter and a note attached to the NEW YORK TIMES newspaper for April 16, 1912, saying “Go to page 2.” Lucien was among those who went down with the ship. Today, his granddaughter has the wedding band he gave to his bride before departing on their voyage, and every April, she takes the package and ring out before putting them away again once the anniversary passes. Robert Millar was twenty-six years old when he signed on to the Titanic as her Sixth Engineer. Before leaving for Belfast to join the crew, he asked his little brother to hold his lucky pen knife for him until he finished his tour of duty and came home. During the two hours and forty minutes of the sinking, Robert and his close friends fought the onslaught of seawater, trying to keep the lights and power going. Recent evidence has shown that even after breaking in half, the Titanic’s emergency dynamos kept power running until the final plunge. The entire engineering department went down with the ship, all thirty-five men. His great niece and her mother will be traveling to Belfast, where on the anniversary, she’ll gather at the slipway where the Titanic was first built and join other family members of the crew and passengers in a candlelight vigil before placing a rose at the memorial where his name is listed with his brothers in arms. These were everyday people overshadowed by the tragedy that took and immortalized them.
Following a successful event on April 10th celebrating the printing process in Freeman’s New York gallery, Senior Specialist, Prints and Multiples, Matthew Stavro sat down with master printer Evan Bellantone.
Featuring original copper plates by Rembrandt van Rijn, Joan Miró, Henri Matisse, and Salvador Dalí, as well as original lithographic stones by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Henri Fantin-Latour, our April 24th Prints & Multiples auction offers the rare opportunity to acquire part of the history and process of printmaking. These significant examples by the most well-regarded artists in the history of printmaking speak to the entire creation process, from composition and collaboration to the different phases of creative process and the life of the plates after the artist’s involvement.These plates have created some of the most recognizable prints in the history of printmaking and are now available as beautiful works of art themselves. To create either a plate for etching or a lithographic stone involves making marks onto a prepared surface, fixing this image via chemical means, then inking and printing the resulting plate or stone. For etchings, a thin metal plate—most often copper, preferred for its softer qualities— is covered with a waxy, acid-resistant layer, the ground. Traditionally, a hard wax ground is used, such as for Lot 124, Matisse’s copper plate for Visage aux Yeux fixés vers le Sol (1946). Here, the artist drew directly onto the plate by pulling a sharp tool through the hard ground, directly exposing the copper. When the intended composition was complete, the plate was submerged in acid, incising the exposed lines into the metal plate. Once the remaining ground was cleaned off, the copper plate was prepared for printing by pushing the ink deeply into the exposed lines. Soft-ground etching involves adding a fat such as tallow to the hard ground to make it more pliable. This process allows for a greater variation of marks and textures, as different materials can be used to mark the ground at varying pressures. For example, in Lot 125, one of the three copper plates used for Joan Miró’s etching,La Main (1947/53), the artist pressed his hand into the soft ground (see top plate below). In this example, you can see very clearly that a broad variation of etched marks can be produced with the softer, more workable ground. To make a lithograph, such as Henri Fantin-Latour’s Vénus et l'Amour, Lot 118, an artist first draws on a stone with an oil-based medium. The stone is traditionally limestone, though today other materials like aluminum may be used. Once complete, the image is treated with a solution of gum arabic and nitric acid that bonds the image to the surface of the stone. Once it is cleaned, the drawn area will accept ink while the negative space will repel it, allowing only the drawn composition to be transferred to the paper. After the plates are created and the first edition is set, additional steps may follow to fine tune the composition or to extend the life of the plate. These can result in a ‘second state.’ Often even third, fourth, or fifth states can be produced. As an example, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s lithographic stoneÉtude de Femme, Lot 119, features added text in its second state so it could be printed as a title page for a song sheet by Hector Sombre. When the published edition of a print is complete, often the artist or publisher will choose to ‘cancel’ the plate. To do this, marks are etched onto the plate signaling that future printed impressions are outside of the published edition. This will usually take the shape of a few lines through the image. However, artists often have different methods for different projects. As you will see in Matisse’s cancelled plate, Nu couchée s'appuyant sur le bras droit (1929), Lot 120, he has inscribed a dedication to printer Roger Lacourière’s wife, Madeleine, ‘en homage a Madame Lacouriére-H. Matisse’, which would be reversed if printed. These cancellation marks help to preserve the integrity of the published edition by preventing unauthorized future editions and, for this work by Matisse, provide additional historical context about the artist’s relationship with his collaborators. Printing presses exert a great deal of pressure on the copper plates, flattening incised lines over time and leading to a loss of precision or tonality in the printed image. This can be seen especially in Rembrandt impressions. When comparing impressions pulled from the copper plate during the artist’s lifetime to impressions centuries later, the diminishing quality of the image can be extraordinary. For Rembrandt’s Woman at a Door Hatch Talking to a Man and Children (1641), Lot 135, Alvin-Beaumont, who acquired the plate in 1906, recognized its value as a work of history and art, and had the plate varnished for presentation rather than focus on reprinting. Other owners of Rembrandt’s plates, who wanted to print the images, took it upon themselves to deepen and sharpen the flattened lines with their own hand. This ‘reworking’ of the plate now helps us date the impressions and has become one of the largest driving factors in the prices of Rembrandt prints on the market with twentieth-century impressions generally being much less valuable than seventeenth-century impressions. From hard-ground etching to soft-ground etching, from steel-faced copper to lithographic stones, and from cancelled to reworked plates, the story of the plates presented here is the story of the artist’s creation and refinement of ideas. These works detail the collaboration of the artist with the printer and reflect how the artist approached the creative process while recognizing and adapting to the unique considerations of working with the medium. They offer untapped opportunity to gain greater understanding of the makers and their work by providing singular access to the artist’s creativity and art historical legacy as defined and expanded through their printmaking.
Join us as we spotlight Reginald Brack, SVP, Head of Department, Watches, ahead of our Watches auction, to be held live in Chicago on April 22.
Dr. Deane Penn (1941-2021) was born in NYC and educated at the Horace Mann School, where he learned to appreciate diverse cultures. He was a Renaissance man.
Join us as we spotlight Annie Wu, Vice President, Head of Department, Asian Works of Art, ahead of our Asian Works of Art auction, to be held live in New York on March 27.
At Freeman’s, history lives in the objects, archives, and artworks that pass through our hands. Each piece carries a human story, and during Black History Month, we pause to recognize and celebrate the immeasurable contributions of Black artists, collectors, makers, and historical figures whose legacies continue to shape American and global culture. Stewardship of History Through Objects For more than two centuries, Freeman’s has served as a steward of cultural history, entrusted with objects that reflect the breadth and complexity of the past. Among these are works and materials that illuminate Black excellence, resilience, creativity, and leadership across generations. From fine art and manuscripts to decorative arts and Americana, these objects are not simply collectibles; they are primary sources that help tell a fuller, more inclusive story of history. Amplifying Black Artists and Makers Freeman’s has been honored to present and champion works by Black artists whose voices and visions deserve sustained recognition. Through our auctions, editorial content, and public programming, we strive to contextualize these works thoughtfully, while placing them within both the canon of art history and the lived experiences that shaped their creation. By doing so, we aim to support scholarship, encourage new collectors, and help ensure these works are preserved and celebrated for generations to come. Preserving Narratives Often Left Untold Objects have the power to reveal histories that traditional narratives overlook. Freeman’s has had the privilege of handling rare documents, photographs, and artifacts connected to Black history, materials that speak to intellectual achievement, cultural leadership, and everyday life. Whether tied to the civil rights movement, entrepreneurship, or artistic innovation, these items deepen our understanding of the past and underscore the importance of preservation. Responsibility, Research, and Respect Engaging with culturally significant material carries responsibility. Our specialists approach each object with rigorous research, care, and respect, collaborating with scholars, institutions, and collectors to ensure accurate attribution and thoughtful interpretation. This commitment reflects our belief that the auction process can play a role in education and cultural stewardship. Black History Month is not a moment confined to February. It is an ongoing commitment to recognition, inclusion, and excellence. At Freeman’s, we continue to look ahead, seeking opportunities to expand representation, elevate underrepresented voices, and tell richer, more complete stories through the objects we present. As we honor Black History Month, we reaffirm our dedication to preserving history through objects, and to ensuring that the stories they carry are shared, valued, and remembered.
"The woodworker has a special intensity, a striving for perfection, a conviction that any task must be executed with all his skill…to create the best object he is capable of creating". – George Nakashima George Nakashima was an American woodworker and architect. His utilitarian approach to design revolved around the principle that the tree is the most intimate contact with nature, with each having a destiny to be fulfilled. “Each flitch, each board, each plank can have only one ideal use. The woodworker, applying a thousand skills, must find that ideal use and then shape the wood to realize its true potential.” – George Nakashima Nakashima graduated from the University of Washington and MIT, where he studied architecture. After traveling through Paris and Japan, he began work on the Sri Aurobindo Ashram dormitory in Pondicherry, India, where he became a disciple and gathered most of his spiritual influence. He then founded a shop in Bucks County, Pennsylvania on 3 acres of land, which expanded to include his home and worksite, both still in use today. His furniture served as a reactionary to the vanity of 20th century Modern design, and instead centered around direct contact with materials and clients. George Nakashima (American, 1905-1990) Grass seated stool, 1958 | Sold for $3,520 Freeman’s is proud to present works by George Nakashima, alongside lots from other notable 20th century makers in our upcoming sale. Art + Design Feb 26 | 10AM CT | Online
A portrait miniature of George Washington in Presidential attire, by Robert Field (1769-1819) after Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), mounted in a gilt-locket frame, circa 1800. Born in London and trained at the Royal Academy, Robert Field arrived in the United States in 1794, with aspirations of depicting the new nation's cultural and political elite. Traveling first to Baltimore, and then to the temporary capital of Philadelphia, Field joined an active group of native and foreign-born artists—prominent among them, Charles Willson Peale, James Peale, and Gilbert Stuart. George Washington was the most coveted subject, and Stuart, creator of highly desirable portraits of Washington, declared Field as the era's greatest portrait miniaturist. This advocacy supported Field's ability to secure numerous commissions of miniature versions of Gilbert Stuart's portraits of the First President, in military uniform and presidential attire. View the American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts Auction, April 28, Philadelphia.