Sparks-Withington Co.. <em>Sparton Table Radio</em>, ca. 1936. Glass, metal, wood, rubber, 8 3/4 x 17 1/2 x 8 3/8 in. (22.2 x 44.5 x 21.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by the Walter Foundation, 83.158. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 83.158_detail_SL4.jpg)

Sparks-Withington Co.. Sparton Table Radio, ca. 1936. Glass, metal, wood, rubber, 8 3/4 x 17 1/2 x 8 3/8 in. (22.2 x 44.5 x 21.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by the Walter Foundation, 83.158. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 83.158_detail_SL4.jpg)

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When was this made?

That Table Radio was made circa 1936 and exhibits the simple, bold, rounded forms of the streamlined style that characterized much American design of the 1930s and implies the idea of motion and aerodynamics even in stationary objects. The designer, Walter Dorwin Teague, was originally a graphic designer who worked briefly for Kodak cameras before becoming one of the most renowned industrial, or product, designers in the United States.

Who was the designer?

That is the Spartan Table Radio and it was designed by Walter Dorwin Teague, an American designer born in 1883. This radio is an example of the streamlined American design popular in the 1930s. The Arens Meat Slicer in Connecting Cultures on the first floor is another excellent example of this design style.

Great, thank you!

You're very welcome.

This is such an interesting design!

Isn't it great? This radio resembles an automobile grill and dashboard. Although this model was made for the home, radios were developed for cars beginning in the 1930s. Just as the radio brought news of the public world into the private family home, this radio would have brought the machine aesthetic, first seen in factories and public spaces, into a domestic setting.

Wow!

Wow indeed! Walter Dorwin Teague designed several reflective blue radios that embodied this machine aesthetic! He was also one of the most successful American industrial designers having worked with Kodak, Corning, and even Boeing.Just as the radio brought news of the public world into the private family home, this radio would have brought the machine aesthetic, first seen in factories and public spaces, into a domestic setting.

Please tell me about this radio.

The Sparton Table Radio is a terrific example of Art Deco design. It's smooth, undecorated surface would have looked very modern in the 1930s when it was made. During the Great Depression, manufacturers relied upon new product designs to attract consumers. In comparison to earlier radios made to look like historic furniture, this radio was styled to resemble a modern mechanical instrument and suggest speed.

How much did a radio like this cost and who would have owned it?

I don't know exactly how much this model cost when it was made in the 1930s, but America was experiencing an economic depression and goods like this would have been priced at a level that was affordable. The design of the radio would have appealed to someone interested in automobiles, as this radio resembles an automobile grill and dashboard. The blue glass would have looked very modern in a 1930s home!

Sparton Table Radio

Decorative Arts and Design

On View: Decorative Art, 20th-Century Decorative Arts, 4th Floor

Although experiments with the notion of wireless communication date back to the mid-nineteenth century, the first radio transmission in the United States occurred in 1920. New technology required new forms, and as the household radio rapidly gained in popularity throughout the twenties and thirties, many designers devised different shapes and styles. Walter Dorwin Teague’s radios from the mid-1930s are among the most iconic early radio designs. Their streamlined, curving, silhouettes epitomize the Art Moderne, or Art Deco, style that began about 1925. The striking blue mirrored glass that clads this radio was a clever use of a preexisting material to add to the radio’s novelty and sense of newness.

MANUFACTURER Sparks-Withington Co.

DESIGNER Walter Dorwin Teague, American, 1883–1960

MEDIUM Glass, metal, wood, rubber

Place Manufactured: Jackson, Michigan, United States

DATES ca. 1936

DIMENSIONS 8 3/4 x 17 1/2 x 8 3/8 in. (22.2 x 44.5 x 21.3 cm) (show scale)

MARKINGS Paper label applied to tube base / transformer inside radio: "SPARTON / MADE IN U.S.A. / A-C RECEIVER MODEL 557 / TYPE 517 CHASSIS / LICENSED UNDER R.C.A. PATENTS / 115 VOLTS 60 CYCLES 60 WATTS / THE SPARKS-WITHINGTON CO. / JACKSON, MICHIGAN. U.S.A. / A-6"

SIGNATURE no signature

INSCRIPTIONS no inscriptions

COLLECTIONS Decorative Arts and Design

ACCESSION NUMBER 83.158

CREDIT LINE Purchased with funds given by the Walter Foundation

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION "Sparton" table radio in the shape of a rectangular box, covered in blue glass entirely on the top and partially on the front proper right side. Flat, black wood surface with three applied wood bands runs from middle of proper right side to opposite end of underside, raising box and serving as a base. The front with three wooden knobs with inlaid metal rings, a square dial face, five horizontal incisions into glass that continue as applied chromed bands to proper left side of front. The bands curve over the black wood surface that entirely covers the proper left side and terminate at the rear. The rear of the radio entirely open, revealing tubes, speaker, and other electrical parts. CONDITION: Good.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Decorative Art, 20th-Century Decorative Arts, 4th Floor

CAPTION Sparks-Withington Co.. Sparton Table Radio, ca. 1936. Glass, metal, wood, rubber, 8 3/4 x 17 1/2 x 8 3/8 in. (22.2 x 44.5 x 21.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by the Walter Foundation, 83.158. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 83.158_detail_SL4.jpg)

IMAGE detail, 83.158_detail_SL4.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2014

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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

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