Tony Duquette Furniture
One of the great style icons of the 20th century, Tony Duquette (1914–99) created pieces with a singularly ebullient elegance. Through his private interior-decorating commissions and his work as a stage and movie-set designer, Duquette made his name synonymous with flamboyance, fantasy and glamorous originality.
Duquette was born in Los Angeles and studied at the Chouinard Art Institute. But his true education began in the mid-1930s, first as an assistant to an aging Elsie de Wolfe — the eminent interior designer who many say created the profession — and later as a colleague of William Haines, the famed movie-star-turned-decorator. Duquette’s clients would come to include many Hollywood luminaries — he decorated “Pickfair,” the fabled home of actress Mary Pickford, and homes for producer David O. Selznick and director Vincent Minnelli — and a robust roster of the rich and powerful, among them Doris Duke, J. Paul Getty, Norton Simon and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. All the while, Duquette was designing film and theater sets and costumes. He worked on such films as Kismet, Ziegfeld Follies and Can-Can; he won a Tony award in 1961 for costume design for the original Broadway production of Camelot.
Theatricality is the keynote of the best of Duquette’s designs. He made things that would get attention. Duquette was no purist — he appreciated the spare and sleek as much as the baroque and elaborate — but everything had to provide a visual effect, if not necessarily perform a function. Apart from the furnishings and objects he designed for his grandest decorating commissions, Duquette rarely used precious materials. “Beauty, not luxury, is what I value” was his often-repeated motto. Duquette pieces priced at $10,000 and above tend to be either intricately made or super-scaled or have an interesting ownership provenance. Most of his works are marked at about $5,000.
As you will see on 1stDibs, Tony Duquette created something for anyone who likes big-statement design — providing a showstopper for a lean, modernist decor or an alluring element in a lush, more-is-more interior. A Duquette design says: On with the show!
1970s Balinese Tribal Vintage Tony Duquette Furniture
Metallic Thread
1960s American Vintage Tony Duquette Furniture
Gold Leaf
1980s American Other Vintage Tony Duquette Furniture
Wood
1980s American Other Vintage Tony Duquette Furniture
Wood
Late 20th Century American Tony Duquette Furniture
Metal
Mid-20th Century Hollywood Regency Tony Duquette Furniture
Crystal, Iron, Metal
20th Century Baroque Tony Duquette Furniture
Mirror
2010s American Art Deco Tony Duquette Furniture
Resin
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Tony Duquette Furniture
Resin
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Tony Duquette Furniture
Glass, Resin
1960s Hollywood Regency Vintage Tony Duquette Furniture
Iron
1960s American Vintage Tony Duquette Furniture
Wood
1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Tony Duquette Furniture
Blown Glass
Late 20th Century Mid-Century Modern Tony Duquette Furniture
Wool
19th Century European Archaistic Antique Tony Duquette Furniture
Textile, Wood
19th Century Chinese Antique Tony Duquette Furniture
Silk, Bamboo
1950s Vintage Tony Duquette Furniture
Wool
20th Century Mid-Century Modern Tony Duquette Furniture
Textile
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Tony Duquette Furniture
Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Tony Duquette Furniture
Wool, Cotton
1960s Mid-Century Modern Vintage Tony Duquette Furniture
Walnut, Wood
Early 20th Century Afghan Tribal Tony Duquette Furniture
Wool
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Tony Duquette Furniture
Resin
1960s Italian Bohemian Vintage Tony Duquette Furniture
Metal
19th Century English Aesthetic Movement Antique Tony Duquette Furniture
Brass, Iron
Late 20th Century North American Tony Duquette Furniture
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Tony Duquette Furniture
Composition
Late 20th Century Chinese Streamlined Moderne Tony Duquette Furniture
Silk
1980s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Tony Duquette Furniture
Aluminum, Steel, Gold Leaf
20th Century American Tony Duquette Furniture
Iron
1970s American Hollywood Regency Vintage Tony Duquette Furniture
Metal
2010s Hollywood Regency Tony Duquette Furniture
Metal, Brass
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Tony Duquette Furniture
Ceramic
1950s American Hollywood Regency Vintage Tony Duquette Furniture
Metal
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Tony Duquette Furniture
Resin