Isamu Noguchi - Design New York Wednesday, December 17, 2014 | Phillips

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  • Catalogue Essay

    The “Measured Time” clocks have appeared previously on the market without attribution, identified only by the clockface “Hawkeye” label or the Stevenson Manufacturing Company label on the reverse. In his autobiography, Isamu Noguchi mentions that his first industrial design was a series of cake molds (which are believed to never have been put into production), followed by the case covering for a clock/kitchen timer called “Measured Time,” and then the baby monitor “Radio Nurse” and accompanying “Guardian Ear.” Because an image of “Measured Time” was never published, “Radio Nurse” had been noted as Noguchi’s first documented mass-produced design. Based on similarities in style, as well as correspondence and relationships in Indiana connecting Noguchi with the Stevenson Manufacturing Company, The Noguchi Foundation has recently confirmed the “Measured Time” case design to be the work of Isamu Noguchi. A discovery over eighty years in the making, Phillips considers it a privilege to introduce this model to the auction market with its rightful attribution.

    The present model clock/kitchen timer is included in the current exhibition Isamu Noguchi, Patent Holder: Designing the World of Tomorrow, June 4, 2014–January 4, 2015 at The Noguchi Museum, and will be on view January 15, 2015–March 19, 2015 at the Dr. M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery at St. John’s University in Queens, New York.

231

“Measured Time” clock and kitchen timer

circa 1932
Bakelite, metal, enameled metal, printed paper.
6 1/8 x 5 1/4 x 3 1/2 in. (15.6 x 13.3 x 8.9 cm)
Manufactured by Stevenson Manufacturing Company, La Porte, Indiana. Clock face printed with HAWKEYE/MEASURED TIME and MEASURED TIME INC. LA PORTE, INDIANA, reverse with metal label printed with STEVENSON MFG. CO/MODEL L PATENTS 1371781/1424092 1620455 1821628/1821629 OTHER PATENTS PENDING.

Estimate
$3,500 - 4,500 

Sold for $11,250

Contact Specialist
Meaghan Roddy
Head of Sale
New York
+ 1 212 940 1266

Design

New York Auction 17 December 2014 11am