Art Dealer Who Hated Selling

The sight of red "sold" spots usually brings a smile to the face of even the most lugubrious art dealer. But Peter Cochrane was never one to observe conventions. "He was rather the opposite of the normal art dealer," recalls Martin Summers, who worked for Cochrane as a young London gallery assistant in the early '60s. "Sometimes I would wag my tail like a puppy and say 'I have just sold an Antoni Tapies' and he would reply, 'Oh, I was rather hoping to take that one home.' He loved buying and hated selling." Cochrane built up a collection - valued at about 5 million pounds - of paintings by Appel, Jones, Hodgkin, Dubuffet and Stella and others. For the full story - click the title Irish Art