Collections: Decorative Arts: Radio Nurse

• Avatar
• Add To Favorites
• Share
• Print

This image is presented as a "thumbnail" because it is protected by copyright. The Brooklyn Museum respects the rights of artists who retain the copyright to their work.

Radio Nurse

• Designer: Isamu Noguchi, American, 1904-1988
• Manufacturer: Kurz-Kasch Inc.
• Medium: Bakelite plastic
• Place Manufactured: Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Dates: ca. 1938
• Dimensions: 8 x 6 1/2 x 6 in. (20.3 x 16.5 x 15.2 cm)
• Markings: Molded stamp on back: "ZENITH / RADIO / (figure in bed) / NURSE / DESIGNED BY NOGUCHI / Patent APPLIED FOR / 117 VOLTS 50/60 CYCLE 25 WATTS / ZENITH RADIO CORP. , CHICAGO"
• Collections: Decorative Arts
• Museum Location: This item is on view in Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th floor
• Accession Number: 88.67
• Credit Line: Designated Purchase Fund
• Image: Overall, 88.67_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
Isamu Noguchi (American, 1904-1988). Radio Nurse, ca. 1938. Bakelite plastic, 8 x 6 1/2 x 6 in. (20.3 x 16.5 x 15.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, 88.67 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 88.67_bw.jpg)
• Catalogue Description: "Radio Nurse," molded plastic Bakelite. A short wave radio, cast in two halves, front and back, creating a spherical object resembling a masked human head. Front has molded horizontal slats (microphone receiver) covered internally with brown fabric; top has a decorative element consisting of a segment-shaped projecting strip aligning with, and eventually merging with, the radio back. Lower extremities of back form two legs, which are reinforced with cylindrical brown Bakelite cross-stretcher, secured by metal screws. Back has eight molded, vertical air vents. Bottom has rectangular opening, which accommodates a brown rubber electrical cord flanked by a vertical vent on either side, and followed below by a rotating circular volume control knob. CONDITION: Radio: excellent, little rusting and oxidation around screw heads; rubber electrical cord is dried and cracked overall.