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Object Timeline

1920

  • Work on this object began.

1940

  • Work on this object ended.

1988

  • We acquired this object.

2015

2017

2025

  • You found it!

Drawing, Design for a Console Table with Electronic Equipment

This is a Drawing. It was from the office of Donald Deskey. It is dated ca. 1930 and we acquired it in 1988. Its medium is graphite, green pencil on tracing paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Though Deskey’s radio cabinets typically hide household phonographs behind doors, this console table features the radio as decoration. An admirer of Bauhaus metal furniture, Deskey was one of the first Americans to design a line of chromium-plated steel furniture. The tubular steel echoes the radio’s material, creating a seamless chrome design highlighting new technologies.

This object was donated by Donald Deskey. It is credited Gift of Donald Deskey.

  • Drawing, Console Table
  • graphite and green color pencil on tracing paper.
  • Gift of Donald Deskey.
  • 1988-101-1247
  •
  • Table (USA)
  • chrome-plated metal, vitrolite.
  • Museum purchase from Decorative Arts Association Acquisition Fund and through....
  • 1993-48-1-a,b
  • Drawing, Table
  • graphite on tracing paper.
  • Gift of Donald Deskey.
  • 1988-101-1274

Our curators have highlighted 1 object that are related to this one.

  • Drawing, Table
  • graphite on tracing paper.
  • Gift of Donald Deskey.
  • 1988-101-1276

Its dimensions are

H x W: 32.8 × 37.3 cm (12 15/16 × 14 11/16 in.) Mat: 35.6 × 45.7 cm (14 × 18 in.)

It is inscribed

Inscribed in graphite, lower left: R.C. 134 CONSOLE REVISED; in graphite, lower right: 6035 / R.C. 134 [encircled]; in graphite, lower right: SCALE 1"=1'–0"; in graphite: object dimensions

Cite this object as

Drawing, Design for a Console Table with Electronic Equipment; Office of Donald Deskey (American, 1894–1989); USA; graphite, green pencil on tracing paper; H x W: 32.8 × 37.3 cm (12 15/16 × 14 11/16 in.) Mat: 35.6 × 45.7 cm (14 × 18 in.); Gift of Donald Deskey; 1988-101-699

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The World of Radio.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18626897/ |title=Drawing, Design for a Console Table with Electronic Equipment |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=10 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>