Why wear a petite ring with a single pearl when you can don a knuckle duster encrusted with dozens? Beloved artist and designer Tony Duquette—known for his jubilent more is more aesthetic—has long inspired bidding wars over such baubles and also the furniture, paintings, and objets d’art  he devised. After all, the Los Angeles native lived his life in a series of houses with ornate rooms and grounds that brought to mind the fantastical movie sets he created for Arthur Freed and Vincent Minnelli at Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Luckily, devotees hoping to secure a bit of Duquette’s theatrical workmanship have one more day to bid on items from Enchanted Duquette, a Paddle8 auction organized by Duquette expert Jason Stein that continues online through Thursday, February 27. The sale includes pieces from the collection of Duquette’s sister Jeanne Duquette Newman, as well as furniture and objects from the Beverly Hills home of actor James Coburn that was designed by the famed decorator. Bidders will also find five early floral and bird paintings that Duquette originally created for Bullocks Wilshire. His fans will remember that while a student at L.A.’s Chouinard Art Institute, Duquette was commissioned to redesign the famed Art Deco department store’s lobby each season, and his work drew the attention of interior designer Elsie de Wolfe. After Duquette created some masterfully lighthearted pieces for de Wolfe’s L.A. house, he became a sought-after designer. And what a brilliant career he had.

By Elizabeth Varnell

 

Pictured: The Tony Duquette-designed interiors of James Coburn’s Beverly Hills home.
Photo courtesy of Paddle8

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