Radio Nurse

Smooth and softly rounded in form, this futuristic three-dimensional design evokes both the hood of a Buddhist nun and the protective face mask of kendo armor. Radio Nurse was designed by Isamu Noguchi and manufactured by the American radio company Zenith. Functioning as an audio monitor, the device received sounds picked up by a microphone elsewhere in the home and amplifies this sound using a speaker. Only the speaker component is preserved in the museum’s collection. This work is said to have been created in response to the kidnapping of aviator Charles Lindbergh’s young son. Lindbergh is famous for flying solo nonstop across the Atlantic.
Isamu Noguchi, one of the foremost sculptors of the twentieth century, was born to Japanese poet Noguchi Yonejirō and American writer Léonie Gilmour. In his later years, he established a studio in Mure-chō, Kagawa Prefecture (present-day Takamatsu City).