"Radio Nurse"

Various artists/makers

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 909

Noguchi worked in a variety of media and Radio Nurse was his first major industrial commission. Together with a separate enameled metal receiver called the Guardian Ear, this piece functions as a baby monitor, transmitting sounds from the baby’s room to the receiver. The highly sculptural form evokes an abstracted human head: the eponymous surrogate nurse. Made of Bakelite, a plasticlike, malleable material that could be dyed almost any color, Radio Nurse is an excellent example of the new, industrial material’s sculptural qualities.

"Radio Nurse", Isamu Noguchi (American, Los Angeles, California 1904–1988 New York), Bakelite, cellulose acetate

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