"Bluebird" Radio

Designer Walter Dorwin Teague American
 Manufacturer Sparton Corporation (Jackson, Michigan)

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 912

The sleek design of this radio embodies the luxurious, carefree lifestyle espoused by Hollywood movies and popular music of the 1930s, which portrayed skyscraper living as the height of sophistication. Following a tantalizing advertising campaign, the Sparton Corporation unveiled four radio models—including the Bluebird—at the 1935 National Electrical and Radio Exposition in New York. With its dramatic chrome accents and bold blue glass body balanced on glossy black round feet, the Bluebird quickly became known as a masterpiece of Art Deco design.

"Bluebird" Radio, Walter Dorwin Teague (American, Decatur, Indiana 1883–1960 Flemington, New Jersey), Glass, chrome-plated metal, fabric, painted wood

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