Allan Houser Record and Strong Richard Mayhew Result Anchor Freeman’s Post War & Contemporary Art Sale

Lot 28 | Richard Mayhew, Finale, 2002 | Property from the Collection of James Washington Compton, Chicago, Illinois. | Sold for $320,000 

Freeman’s Post War & Contemporary Art auction on May 13 in New York realized an impressive $2,381,280, achieving strong results across a dynamic selection of 20th- and 21st-century works.

The sale was led by standout performances for Allan Houser and Richard Mayhew, including a new world auction record for Houser and the second-highest auction result for Mayhew. Demonstrating sustained demand across painting, sculpture, and textile-based practices, the auction achieved a 105% sell-through rate by value, with 89% of lots sold and 35% of buyers new to Freeman’s. 
 

Zachary Wirsum, SVP, Head of Department, Post War & Contemporary Art, stated: “You know it was a fantastic sale when the day’s biggest disappointment was Richard Mayhew’s Finale falling just $11,000 short of an auction record. But setting a new auction record for Allan Houser—only to break it again on the very next lot—more than made up for it. With competitive bidding emerging refreshingly early, we were also thrilled to see important works by Olga de Amaral, Dorothea Rockburne, and Otto Piene significantly outperform expectations.”  

Auction Highlights 

• Lot 28 | Richard Mayhew, Finale, 2002  
  Property from the Collection of James Washington Compton, Chicago, Illinois 
  Sold for $320,000 
  Second Highest Price for the Artist at Auction  
   
  A centerpiece of the sale and offered at auction for the first time, Finale attracted competitive bidding to realize $320,000 against a pre-sale estimate of $150,000–250,000, achieving the second-highest auction price for the artist to date. Painted at the height of Mayhew’s mature practice, the luminous composition exemplifies the artist’s signature fusion of abstraction and landscape through richly atmospheric color and light. The result reflects growing institutional and market recognition for Mayhew’s work. 

• Lot 61 | Allan Houser, Migration, 1992  
  Sold for $243,200 
  World Auction Record for the Artist 
   
  Lot 60 | Allan Houser, Spirit of the Wind, 1993  
  Sold for $153,600 
  Second Highest Price for the Artist at Auction 
   
  Two major bronzes by Allan Houser dramatically surpassed expectations, underscoring continued momentum for the artist’s market. Migration achieved a new world auction record for Houser, more than quadrupling its low estimate to realize $243,200, while Spirit of the Wind achieved $153,600, becoming the second-highest price for the artist at auction. Created during the final years of Houser’s career, both sculptures demonstrate his masterful use of abstraction, movement, and negative space, while reflecting themes rooted in his Chiricahua Apache heritage. 

• Lot 56 | Olga de Amaral, Fragmento incompleto, 1980 
  Sold for $102,400 
   
  Continuing strong collector demand for textile-based practices, Fragmento incompleto soared to $102,400—more than four times its pre-sale estimate of $25,000–35,000. The work highlights Amaral’s pioneering approach to fiber art, blending weaving, painting, and sculpture through richly textured materials and luminous surfaces. The result further reflects the expanding market and institutional appreciation for Amaral’s work and for textile art more broadly. 

• Lot 7 | Andy Warhol, Repent and Sin No More! (Positive), c.1985-1986 
  Sold for $128,000  
   
  A compelling example of Warhol’s late work, Repent and Sin No More! (Positive) realized $128,000, underscoring the continued strength of the market for the artist’s later works. Employing his signature silkscreen technique, Warhol transforms a biblical directive into a bold visual statement, blending themes of spirituality and mass communication that defined much of his later practice. Reflecting the artist’s complex relationship with faith, the composition operates simultaneously as a meditation on religion and a commentary on the circulation of moral messages within contemporary culture. 
   

 
 
LEFT TO RIGHT 

Lot 41 | Manolo Valdés, Selene, 2020 | Sold for $96,000 
Lot 52 | Gerhard Richter, FAZ-Übermalung, 2002 | Sold for $83,200 
 

Additional Highlights 
 

• Lot 41 | Manolo Valdés, Selene, 2020 
  Sold for $96,000 
   

• Lot 52 | Gerhard Richter, FAZ-Übermalung, 2002 
  Sold for $83,200 

• Lot 68 | Peter Halley, Blue Velvet, 2002 
  Sold for $76,800 
   

• Lot 47 | George Rodrigue, Surprise!, 1996 
  Sold for $70,400 
   

• Lot 34 | Roger Brown, Nuclear Winter, 1984 
  Sold for $64,000 
   

• Lot 2 | Isamu Noguchi, Figure Emerging, 1982 
  Sold for $60,800 
   

• Lot 44 | Jamie Nares, Western, 2001 
  Sold for $44,800 
   

• Lot 49 | Janet Fish, Pink Ribbon and Yellow Ribbon, 1981 
  Sold for $41,600 
   

• Lot 26 | Ann Craven, Yellow Canary (Stepping Out on Orange, with Hollyhocks and Cherries), 2019 
  Sold for $25,600 
   

• Lot 80 | Otto Piene, The Black, the Fire and the Flower, 1974
 
  Sold for $24,320 
   

• Lot 66 | Dorothea Rockburne, Seraphim, Love, 1982
 
  Sold for $21,760