Dealers and collectors - National Museums Liverpool

compromise a number of sales to clients Sir William Bennett and William Lever. James Henrywas author of Collections and Recollections. A century and a half of art deals, London 1935.Literature· Meryle Secrest, Duveen: a life in art, New York 2004.Edgar GorerArt dealer. S. Gorer & Son was founded by Solomon Lewis Gorer (1840­1907), and hadpremises at 170 New Bond Street, London. The company's agent in New York was thejeweller Dreicer & Co., at 560 Fifth Avenue. It was in the hands of Solomon's son, EdgarEzekiel Gorer (1872­1915), that 'Gorer', as it became known, became an international dealerin Chinese art, particularly Chinese ceramics, boasting major clients in Britain and across theAtlantic. Edgar Gorer was ambitious and gained a reputation for buying up importantcollections, such as that formed by Richard Bennett, Sir William Bennett, George R. Daviesand Alfred Trapnell, and promoting them through exhibition and privately printed catalogues,often with colour plates. Gerald Reitlinger, in his 'Economics of Taste', aptly described Goreras being 'the meteoric rival of the Duveens'. He entered into two lawsuits as a result of hishigh profile activities, one with William Hesketh Lever over the purchase of the RichardBennett Collection and Duveen over a Kangxi vase, which Gorer had offered to Frick butwhich Duveen had claimed was a fake. The latter lawsuit was never heard in court. On theday of its announcement, 7th May 1915, Gorer was crossing the Atlantic on the Lusitaniawhich was torpedoed and he lost his life. He was 43. Edgar Gorer married Rachel AliceCohen (1873­1954) in 1902 and lived in some elegance at 45 Netherhall Gardens in SouthHampstead. Their three sons were the writer and social anthropologist, Geoffrey Gorer,geneticist, Peter Gorer and the horticulturalist, Richard Gorer.Edgar Gorer's publications include: (with J.F. Blacker),'Chinese Porcelain and Hardstones', 2volumes, London 1911 (this was a limited edition of 1000) and catalogues of exhibitions ofcollections including Alfred Trapnell (S. Gorer, 1906), Sir William Henry Bennett (Edgar Gorer& Sir William Henry Bennett, 1910), Richard Bennett (Edgar Gorer, 1911) and George R.Davies (G.R. Davies and Gorer, 1913). He also published 'A catalogue of rare specimens ofMing and early Kang­He porcelain' (S. Gorer, 1907) and 'Old Chinese Porcelain', (EdgarGorer, 1910).Literature· Christian Jorg, 'Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam:The Ming and Qing Dynasties', Amsterdam 1997, pp.16, 19.· Oliver Impey, Lever as a Collector of Chinese Porcelain, in 'Art and Business inEdwardian England: The Making of the Lady Lever Art Gallery', Journal of the Historyof Collections, vol.4, no.2, 1992, pp.227­238.· Gerald Reitlinger, 'The Economics of Taste: The rise and fall of objets d’art pricessince 1750, London 1963', vol.2, pp.213­215.· Website: www.rmslusitania.info.· Jeremy MacClancy, 'Geoffrey Gorer (1905­85)', Dictionary of National Biography,2004.