3 minute read
Meet a Member
Patrick Corrigan AM
MRAG Patron and Lifetime Member
Lives in Sydney
Patrick Corrigan was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia medal in 2000 for “service to the visual arts, particularly as a philanthropist to regional galleries and through a grant scheme for artists.”
Pat has been an advocate for, and benefactor of, Maitland Regional Art Gallery since 2005.
Donations to the MRAG Collection:
726 items with a total value of $790,465.
Pat Corrigan AM in his dining room in Sydney
Please tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m nearly 90 – how long have you got? I was born in Hankou, China (which is part of the greater city of Wuhan) but during the Second World War my parents decided it would be best to move to Australia. We only made it as far as Hong Kong, where we were caught up in the 1941 Japanese attack. My mother and I were interned there in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp for four years. We eventually made it to Australia. I began working in freight as a teenager, then built up my own freight business. It was through transporting artworks that I came to know artists and fall in love with all things art.
What is your connection to/why do you support MRAG?
Joe Eisenberg introduced me to MRAG when he became Director in 2005. I began donating artworks to the MRAG Collection that year, became a Lifetime Member in 2009 and MRAG Patron in 2011. I prefer not to put my artworks in storage if I don’t have room to hang them; instead I like to share my collection, so my paintings are on loan and on display in universities and galleries around Australia and I also like to gift artworks from my collection.
MRAG Collection Management Curator Cheryl Farrell with Pat Corrigan in his apartment in Sydney.
I also enjoy working with artists and curators and I think MRAG is doing great things. I have worked with MRAG Collection Management Curator Cheryl Farrell on a few exhibitions at MRAG over the years which I have really enjoyed. In 2011 almost all my artworks, that were hanging in my home in Sydney, were loaned to MRAG for the exhibition Pat Corrigan: Collector. My walls were bare for nearly three months (so I took the opportunity to have the place repainted!). I did a count of the artworks hanging in my apartment last week – and I have 270.
In 2012–2013 Cheryl and I selected 30 great artists from a list of 1000 artists that I helped support through the Pat Corrigan Artists' Grant scheme (which ran between 1990 and 2004). The MRAG exhibition Inspiring Artists highlighted how artists’ careers can benefit and flourish from the validation, and financial support, of such encouragement in the early stages of their careers.
What are some of your favourite artworks in your Collection and why?
Guy Maestri and Pat with Guy Maestri’s painting 'Portrait for Pat', 2011
I have always liked Brett Whiteley. My favourite artwork in my collection is a pen and pencil self-portrait that he made when he was in Paris. I also really like Guy Maestri’s portrait of me which was selected for the 2011 Salon des Refusés at S.H. Ervin Gallery Sydney. I donated this to MRAG – it’s too big for my apartment!
What are some of your favourite places to visit in regional NSW?
Well, I like visiting Maitland of course to come to the Maitland Regional Art Gallery.
Interview: Cheryl Farrell
