Skip Navigation

Radio Nurse

Decorative Arts and Design

On View: Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor
MEDIUM Bakelite plastic
  • Place Manufactured: Chicago, Illinois, United States
  • DATES Designed in 1937. ca. 1938
    DIMENSIONS 8 x 6 1/2 x 6 in. (20.3 x 16.5 x 15.2 cm)  (show scale)
    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"
    ACCESSION NUMBER 88.67
    CREDIT LINE Designated Purchase Fund
    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.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor
    CAPTION Isamu Noguchi (American, 1904-1988). Radio Nurse, Designed in 1937. ca. 1938. Bakelite plastic, 8 x 6 1/2 x 6 in. (20.3 x 16.5 x 15.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Designated Purchase Fund, 88.67. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 88.67_view1_bw.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 88.67_view1_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.