2004.3, Microphone (Model W-1248), Webster-Chicago Corporation (maker), American, c. 1936-1940

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

This ribbon microphone, with its teardrop-shaped Bakelite casing and aggressive stack of chrome ribs, exudes the essence of streamlined style. From buildings to the most mundane of domestic articles, machine functionality encased in a curvilinear shroud of seemingly aerodynamic design suggested a fascination with speed and technology. Often overriding practical concerns, streamlining provided a sleek glamour to objects which otherwise might have been overlooked by manufacturers and consumers. During the 1930s, designers such as Raymond Loewy and Walter Dorwin Teague found great success in altering the appearances of locomotives and cameras to meet this new aesthetic, even if their creations often failed to meet great commercial success. Unlike vehicles such as Chrysler's Airflow (1934), stationary objects gained no functional benefits from streamlining, but rather visually expressed their association with the power and technology of modern steamships, locomotives, and automobiles. Mirroring the efforts of the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition (1933-34), the futuristic look of such objects appeared to offer a nation struggling against the ills of the Great Depression hope for a better world.

The smooth teardrop shape of this microphone would have had little effect on the quality of the sound it recorded; instead its neatly integrated design was intended to be visually pleasing to the performer and audience. Live radio transmissions allowed performances to be experienced around the world.

Drawn from

Kevin W. Tucker, DMA unpublished material, 2003.
Kevin W. Tucker, DMA unpublished material, 2009.

NOTES

Geo Xrefs - place of origin

Geo Xrefs - business locator

Text entry - Object receipt

Provenance

Catalogue essays

Artist/designers

Cultures

Geography

Chicago (Illinois): TGN: 7013596

Process/materials

Bakelite (TM): AAT: 300014544

chrome steel: AAT: 300010818

Historical periods

20th Century Design: The 1930s

American and European Design - 1920 to 1960

The Impact of Cubism on Art Deco and Streamlined Modern

Streamlined Modern

Plastics: Art Deco and Streamlined Modern

Art Moderne

Individuals

Subject terms

RELATED OBJECTS

PROVENANCE

About 1936: Webster-Chicago Corporation (manufacturer), Chicago, Illinois [1]

After 1936: Mathew McNatt (collector), San Jose, California [1][2]

From 2004: Dallas Museum of Art, purchased from Mathew McNatt (collector) via Robert Bryan Wrinkle (broker and dealer), Dallas, TX on 1/22/2004 [2][3]

[1] According to the DMA Acquisition Proposal (2004.3), November 2003, by former chief curator for the Decorative Arts and Design, Kevin W. Tucker.

[2] According to an an email from Robert Wrinkle (broker and dealer) to Kevin W. Tucker (former chief curator for the Decorative Arts and Design at the DMA) dated November 6, 2003

[3] According to the following documents found in the DMA object file: DMA Object receipt form dated November 21, 2003, DMA Committee on Collections record dated December 10, 2003, Invoice from Robert Wrinkle dated December 15, 2003, DMA Purchase Order dated January 7, 2004

AUDIO ASSETS

VIDEO ASSETS

IMAGE ASSETS

WEB RESOURCES

PBS American Experience~Read more about Industrial Designers and Streamliners

Webster-Chicago Corporation~Learn more about the Webster-Chicago Corporation

ARCHIVAL RESOURCES

FUN FACTS

TEACHING IDEAS

RULES

Apply to objects where id equals 5325683

General Description

This ribbon microphone, with its teardrop-shaped Bakelite casing and aggressive stack of chrome ribs, exudes the essence of streamlined style. From buildings to the most mundane of domestic articles, machine functionality encased in a curvilinear shroud of seemingly aerodynamic design suggested a fascination with speed and technology. Often overriding practical concerns, streamlining provided a sleek glamour to objects which otherwise might have been overlooked by manufacturers and consumers. During the 1930s, designers such as Raymond Loewy and Walter Dorwin Teague found great success in altering the appearances of locomotives and cameras to meet this new aesthetic, even if their creations often failed to meet great commercial success. Unlike vehicles such as Chrysler's Airflow (1934), stationary objects gained no functional benefits from streamlining, but rather visually expressed their association with the power and technology of modern steamships, locomotives, and automobiles. Mirroring the efforts of the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition (1933-34), the futuristic look of such objects appeared to offer a nation struggling against the ills of the Great Depression hope for a better world.