Over the course of 45 truly cosmopolitan years together, Gordon Duggins and Armando Dunn, currently of High Point, North Carolina, have incorporated the culture of the world into their extensive art collection and art patronage. The wide ranging nature and nationality of the pieces in the single-owner sale of their collection tell the story of their global lifestyle.
Armando Dunn was born to a family with a history of art appreciation. Dunn was raised in Paris, France, with an Irish father and a French mother whose large family had roots in French Louisiana. His mother’s mother was an art lover who gave refuge to Jewish families during WWII in the French countryside. In thanks, they gave her art. Her collection, around which Dunn was raised, was replete with works by Degas, Matisse, Gauguin, Goya and Klimt. Dunn’s very first piece in his own collection was the small Degas his grandmother gave him for his sixteenth birthday. With this kind of introduction to art, it was only natural that he would become a world-class collector in his own right.
After attending the London School of Economics, Dunn embarked on a decades-long career in international banking. His work took him all over the world - he and Duggins, a Harvard-trained Episcopal priest who spent the last 25 years of his career operating shelters and services for the homeless and those living with HIV/AIDS, lived in Paris, Buenos Aires, Luxembourg, Chile, Uruguay, Monaco, Milan, Moscow, Mexico City, and New York, to name a few. In each of their homes, they collected art that reflected their surroundings. In their apartment in Mexico City they amassed such a large collection that they were forced to sell most of it before they left in order to avoid the inevitable bribes that would have been necessary to get the art out of the country. They also liquidated a similarly extensive collection from their apartment in New York City.
Armando Dunn was born to a family with a history of art appreciation. Dunn was raised in Paris, France, with an Irish father and a French mother whose large family had roots in French Louisiana. His mother’s mother was an art lover who gave refuge to Jewish families during WWII in the French countryside. In thanks, they gave her art. Her collection, around which Dunn was raised, was replete with works by Degas, Matisse, Gauguin, Goya and Klimt. Dunn’s very first piece in his own collection was the small Degas his grandmother gave him for his sixteenth birthday. With this kind of introduction to art, it was only natural that he would become a world-class collector in his own right.
After attending the London School of Economics, Dunn embarked on a decades-long career in international banking. His work took him all over the world - he and Duggins, a Harvard-trained Episcopal priest who spent the last 25 years of his career operating shelters and services for the homeless and those living with HIV/AIDS, lived in Paris, Buenos Aires, Luxembourg, Chile, Uruguay, Monaco, Milan, Moscow, Mexico City, and New York, to name a few. In each of their homes, they collected art that reflected their surroundings. In their apartment in Mexico City they amassed such a large collection that they were forced to sell most of it before they left in order to avoid the inevitable bribes that would have been necessary to get the art out of the country. They also liquidated a similarly extensive collection from their apartment in New York City.
Lee Krasner (American, 1908-1984), Primary Series: Blue Stone
Dunn and Duggins’ current collection, from which we are offering pieces, is a mixture of works by established artists like Lee Krasner, Robert Rauschenberg and Rufino Tamayo, and the works of the young artists that Dunn and Duggins supported as they launched their careers.
Through their many visits to art schools and shows, the couple would identify artists whose work they found promising, invest in their work, introduce them to galleries, and sponsor them. In Mexico City they patronized René Rabadán Nishimura, Francisco De Anda and others. Here in North Carolina some of the artists they have supported are Jon Rollins, William Fields, and Kate Collins.
William Fields (NC, b. 1940), Figurative Abstraction in Green and Blue with Symbols
Dunn and Duggins are drawn to art with an edge - they are not put off by challenging themes. Dunn tells of visiting Madrid in 2018, where he could not pull Duggins away from Guernica, Picasso’s famous painting about the Nazi bombing of the Basque town by the same name. Much of the art in the couple’s collection has a similar tone of the artist processing lived or felt experience. It is art that takes the human condition as its theme, in all its diversity - the good, the bad, the strange, and the beautiful.
In addition to art, Dunn and Duggins are avid collectors of Asian porcelains, art glass and crystal from the likes of Lalique, Baccarat and Daum, as well as Continental and American furniture. Featured items from their collection are below.
The Collection of Mr. Dunn & Mr. Duggins, High Point North Carolina
Friday, November 20th
10:00am (EDT)
In addition to art, Dunn and Duggins are avid collectors of Asian porcelains, art glass and crystal from the likes of Lalique, Baccarat and Daum, as well as Continental and American furniture. Featured items from their collection are below.
The Collection of Mr. Dunn & Mr. Duggins, High Point North Carolina
Friday, November 20th
10:00am (EDT)
