09/05/2025 19th & 20th Century Furniture & Decorative Arts, Boston / New England
Tony Fusco and Robert Four had a passion for collecting before they met, and together they continued that aesthetic pleasure, building their collection for more than four decades. They were attracted to objects of beauty that had links to the past, memories and tales from earlier generations.
Their appreciation was cultivated by their families who exposed them during their childhood to the Arts in general, and encouraged their creative expression. Tony found writing his calling in early childhood, which informed his entire adult life. Poetry was his passion and most personal form of expression. Robert, a visual artist who studied painting, photography and graphic design, was Art Director of Fusco & Four, Associates, their agency since 1979.
Together Tony and Robert integrated art and design into their everyday life, developing their aesthetic and passion over the years, curating their collection with a primary focus on 20th Century Fine Art and Design. The style of this period opened for them the unique appeal of the Modern, a world of beauty and craftsmanship, and the last great international style with which they surrounded themselves in their home. They started collecting for personal enjoyment, and progressed to selling Fine Art as Fusco & Four Modern in 1988, offering works for sale which they would have chosen for themselves: paintings, sculpture, works on paper and fine prints. They also appraised and brokered vintage posters.
Tony and Robert co-authored five books on French Art Deco, American Modern, and vintage posters, in addition to publishing numerous articles on everything 20th Century. This research and exploration revealed to them an exciting era for fine art, reflecting both design movements and social change: Art Deco, WPA Period, Social Realism, Regionalism, Modernism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, as well as the applied arts represented in furnishings and objets d'art.
In addition to being collectors and art dealers, in 1979 Tony and Robert established Fusco and Four, Associates, a marketing and public relations agency serving a wide variety of clients in arts, design, luxury and publishing fields. They produced large-scale public art and design events, notably the Boston International Fine Art Show for 24 years, and Boston Design Week for eleven years.
Tony was also an activist for 20th-century architecture. In 1989 he founded and was President of the Art Deco Society of Boston. The preservation-minded association sought to further the understanding, appreciation and preservation of Art Deco and related design styles. ADSB focuses its efforts on 20th-century architecture through the Modern period, and worked in collaboration with other preservation organizations in the city and beyond.
His walking tours of Boston were always sold out. Some of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in New England are located in Downtown Boston, from stepped-back skyscrapers with luxurious French Art Deco ornamentation to 1930s examples of the more Streamlined style of the WPA period to Modern office buildings built just after World War II.
Their collection represents forty-seven years of Tony and Robert collecting and living with 19th & 20th Century Fine Art and Design. Doyle is honored to present this remarkable collection in the Boston Collects auction.
Boston Auction Friday, September 12, 2025 at 11am
Boston Exhibition September 5 – 8
DOYLE Boston at The Vendome
290 Dartmouth St, Boston, MA 02116
