Isamu Noguchi

together with the original retail box

"Safe at Home," House & Garden, March 1941, p. 34

Alexander von Vegesack, Peter Dunas, and Mathias Schwartz-Clauss, eds. 100 Masterpieces from the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, 1996, p. 148 Paola Antonelli, ed., Sitting on the Edge:  Modernist Design from the Collection of Michael and Gabrielle Boyd, San Francisco, 1998, pl. 50 J. Stewart Johnson, American Modern 1925-1940:  Design for a New Age, New York, 2000, p. 163

Alexander von Vegesack, Katarina V. Posch, and Jochen Eisenbrand, eds., Isamu Noguchi:  Sculptural Design, Weil am Rhein, 2001, p. 110

Overall in very good original condition. The Radio Nurse with a few minor surface irregularities inherent in the bakelite material. The Radio Nurse presents with a few minor shallow surface scratches, consistent with very gentle use, the largest one measuring approximately 1 inch to the proper right side of the radio. The Listening Ear with traces of wear and minor losses to the paint throughout, minor oxidation and some surface scratches to the surface. Both elements are presently wired with likely original wiring, showing minor breaks and wear. Sotheby’s has not checked them for functionality. This lot is also being sold with the original retail box, which has surface dirt and traces of wear consistent with age and gentle use. A rare offering to include three original elements. Please contact the 20th Century Design department for additional photographs showing all the elements being offered in this lot. ---
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The "Radio Nurse" is one Noguchi's first major industrial designs commisioned by Zenith’s president to monitor his daughter, born just a few years after the kidnapping of Charles Linbergh's son. The shape evokes not only the abstract head of a nurse, but also the Japanese "Kendo" masks that Noguchi saw as a child. The piece epitomizes the artist's incorporation of new materials such as bakelite in his creations. In 1939, it was exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art and Time magazine called it the "most exotic" object in the show, "prettier as radio than as a nurse."