Gorer v Lever - National Museums Liverpool

shipped most of the remaining part of the Bennett Collection off to America,where he was building a steady reputation. This final episode in Gorer’s careerwill be discussed below.‘Sheer Cleverness and Courage’The Bennett Collection debacle virtually ended Lever’s relationship with Gorer.There were the occasional exchanges of letters prompted ostensibly byopportunities to purchase, when, for example, in March 1914, Gorer wrote to askwhether Lever was interested in reselling the black vase with dragon from theBennett Collection which John D. Rockefeller (1839­1937) was keen to acquire.With some satisfaction he boasted to Lever that ‘I sold the entire collection of myBlack porcelains to Mr Rockefeller’. 66 Lever declined to sell. Early the followingyear, Gorer again made a tentative enquiry as to whether Lever would beinterested in acquiring the Morgan Collection. 67 Lever was not.The extraordinary events surrounding the Bennett Collection provide someinteresting pointers to Gorer’s character and his relationship with his clients. Asalready discussed, Gorer was ambitious and talented. He had, as James HenryDuveen observed, ‘forced himself into a leading position amongst London artdealers by sheer cleverness and courage’, but he was often rash. 68 According toDuveen, Gorer had admitted as much: ‘“One of the greatest factors in my66Gorer to Lever, 14 March, 1914, Gorer Papers.67Gorer to Lever, 12 January, 1915, Gorer Papers. The American financier, John PierpontMorgan died in 1913 and his son, John, wanted to sell his father’s Chinese porcelain collection topay New York State inheritance tax. Henry Duveen, not Gorer, eventually acquired the collectionand sold it piecemeal to J.D. Rockefeller, Henry Clay Frick and P.A.B. Widener. See GeraldReitlinger, The Economics of Taste, Vol.2, London, 1963, p.p.213­14.68Duveen, Secrets, p.260.23