'I would love to hold a Monet pastel in my hands', says Megan Corcoran Locke.
1 How did you get your start?
I never actually intended to be in the ‘gallery world’. I told my parents that I was leaving my traditional finance job in order to study art investment to go down a more specialist (though still financial) route. For my first project in my art business degree, I had to put together an imaginary collection with a budget of £150,000, for which I decided to ‘collect’ Old Master drawings. That was when I met Stephen Ongpin, and he got me hooked - the rest is history.
2 What is something you’d love to get your hands on?
Personally, I would love to hold a Monet pastel in my hands. Our gallery has had one in the past, though sadly before my time! Of my favourite area - 20th century art - I have held Degas, Cézanne, Renoir, all the household names… I just missed the Monet!
Claude Monet’s Waterloo Bridge, London, a 29 x 46cm (11.5 x 18.25in) pastel work now in a private collection. It was sold by Stephen Ongpin.
Photo courtesy of Stephen Ongpin Fine Art.
3 What is one item you couldn’t do without?
I am going to cheat and consider a collection as an item. In my new work-from-home life, I couldn’t do without my Master Drawings magazine collection, which is always a wonderful and comforting read when I feel that I am far away from the drawings.
4 Do you have a collection in your home?
I am very new to collecting and have a very limited budget! With just a few pieces to my name, a mixture of paintings, drawings and prints - so far from the 18th century through to contemporary pieces - I am slowly working to fill the walls and have a long way to go.
5 What is your favourite appearance of an antique in a film, play or book?
While this is a bit of a clichéd answer, I absolutely love Mona Lisa Smile, which includes quite a few works as it is about an art history class in 1950s America. To choose just one work, a pivotal scene in the movie involves seeing Jackson Pollock’s Number 1 as it comes out of its crate - very fresh and controversial given the timing of the film. It brings you back to an era where abstraction was just taking root, putting you at the moment in time where people had to completely change the way they viewed fine art.
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