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Object Timeline

1958

  • Work on this object began.

1992

  • We acquired this object.

2011

2015

2025

  • You found it!

Drawing, Design for Musaphonic Clock Radio in Blue

This is a Drawing. It was made for (as the client) General Electric Company. It is dated 1958 and we acquired it in 1992. Its medium is pastel, brush and gouache, watercolor, pen and black ink, graphite on vellum. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Arbib, who began his career styling cars for General Motors, made designs for clock radios that apply the flamboyant features of 1950s automobiles. Flaring speakers and a flashy dial approximate the look of an automotive dashboard and demonstrate how companies like General Electric eagerly added new features to radios to entice consumers.

It is credited Museum purchase through the gift of Mrs. Edward C. Post.

  • Drawing, Design for Toaster
  • brush and watercolor, gouache over graphite on heavy black construction paper.
  • Gift of Alfons Bach.
  • 1993-108-382

Its dimensions are

H x W: 47.2 × 60.1 cm (18 9/16 × 23 11/16 in.)

It is signed

Signed in graphite, lower right: R. Arbib '58

It is inscribed

On design, in yellow gouache: Musaphonic; in graphite: GENERAL [GE symbol] Electric; ALAR[M]; SLEEP; AUTO; OFF; ON; numbers for tuning, between knobs: 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 14 16.

Cite this object as

Drawing, Design for Musaphonic Clock Radio in Blue; Client: General Electric Company; USA; pastel, brush and gouache, watercolor, pen and black ink, graphite on vellum; H x W: 47.2 × 60.1 cm (18 9/16 × 23 11/16 in.); Museum purchase through the gift of Mrs. Edward C. Post; 1992-183-5

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18639699/ |title=Drawing, Design for Musaphonic Clock Radio in Blue |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=6 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>