Tony Duquette

For me, this has been one of those unexpected, greatest inspirations that come to be discovered purely by chance! And if you, like me, were not familiar with Tony Duquette (11 June 1914 – 9 September 1999, Los Angeles, California) until this time, he was an outstanding American artist, interior and jewelry designer, costume and set designer for stage and film.

The materials magician and a master of illusions, his style cannot be defined in one word. I would say, it is a lush, multi-layered global fusion of artful treasures designed and arranged with much heart.
Or, partly, his style tends more likely to be called 'eclectic' -- "composed of elements drawn from various sources," -- but the epithets seem to be really countless.
 
His own Dawnridge estate serves as a live example of the harmonious coexistence of different epochs from different continents united under one roof.

"Decorating is not a surface performance,
it's a spiritual impulse,inborn and primordial." --Tony Duquette

Vogue Living, Sept/Oct, 2011 | Photographer Richard Powers
"Whether they included Versailles-style mirrors crowned with lobsters, 18th-century French paneling studded with pieces of sea coral or antique Gobelin tapestries framed with leopard-print velvet, Duquette's Hollywood Regency-style fantasies never failed to delight..."

Vogue Living, Sept/Oct, 2011 | Photographer Richard Powers "So if you fancy a room where silver-mounted ostrich eggs, swordfish snouts and butterfly wings keep you company while you have your coffee, explore the magic of Tony Duquette." — Xenia Viray, Zoom Zoom Magazine
Vogue Living, Sept/Oct, 2011 | Photographer Richard Powers

Vogue Living, Sept/Oct, 2011 | Photographer Richard PowersAll images above are from Vogue Living Australia 

Dining Room at Dawnridge photographed by Lisa Romerein | via magazinec.com

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The Sunroom at Dawnridge “My designs always spring from imagination and the natural beauty of materials at hand, rather than from arbitrary definitions of luxury,” the designer once said. "The Tea House" in the Duquettes' Malibu ranch Sortilegium | via here

The malachite Dining room at Dawnridge |  via here
Tony Duquette's orientalist garden at his Malibu ranch Sortilegium is filled with pagodas, pavilions and whimsical statues and ornaments!

 via nytimes
via fragilbazar

Rajput soldiers guarding the entrance to Frogmore -the Duquettes' own house, Malibu

The Pond at Dawnridge | via here 


  The screened-in porch at Duquette's ranch, Frogmore Hall, in Malibu An extravagant table setting inspired by Tony Duquette's style featuring his famous signature — 'the single, artfully placed polyp branch.' | via here

  via marthastewart
A couple of stunning jewelry pieces designed by Tony Duquette


 Harper's Bazaar (March, 2008) made this wonderful spread named 'Fresh Florals' that was shot at Dawnridge.

And, finally, some images I liked from the "Colorful Summer": Malgosia Bela as Talitha Getty in a Tony Duquette Interior for Vogue Italia. |Photography by Steven Meisel

 I decided to present this post mostly as a colorful visual tour into Tony Duquette's world. Yet, some readings are inevitable, and I hope, my pictorial would be helpful for deeper involvement then. 
Actually, photography and printed materials on Tony Duquette are available in the net in abundance, and to write more or less comprehensively about this unique artist a book-length post is needed! 
And here they are:   Tony Duquette by Wendy Goodman and Hutton Wilkinson(2007)

 on sale at amazon at 56$
and More is More (2009) by Hutton Wilkinson (Duquette's protege and business partner for 30 years)
There is even one more glamorous edition - "Tony Duquette/Hutton Wilkinson Jewelry." 

"...This precious luxury edition, with its gold foil stamping and gilt-edge pages, itself resembles an exquisite jewelry box, tempting all to peek inside and discover untold treasures..."  "Beauty, not luxury, is what I value. I do it to see the smile on people's faces.”

via dezignlicious

*Featured quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from a couple of interesting and informative articles: here, at panachemag, and the New York Times.