After attending school in his native city, he left for Paris in 1925 and trained as a bookbinder.
In 1936, he became a founding member of the experimental Picture Loan Society, which offered artworks for rental by the month and sponsored numerous small exhibitions every year.
Fitzgerald, "Scottie" Wilson, Harold Town, Paul-Emile Borduas, Isabel McLaughlin, and Bertram Brooker.
[3] Duncan particularly admired the work of David Milne, who he sought out from the Muskoka wilderness, eventually becoming his agent in 1938.
[3] After his death in 1968, his sister, Frances Duncan Barwick, distributed his art collection to 42 public museums or university art collections across Canada, and to the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris.