Walter Dorwin Teague, dean of industrial design

This Walter Dorwin Teague Nocturne radio, model 1186, achieved $40,000 plus the buyer’s premium in June 2019. Image courtesy of Wright and LiveAuctioneers.
This Walter Dorwin Teague Nocturne radio, model 1186, achieved $40,000 plus the buyer’s premium in June 2019. Image courtesy of Wright and LiveAuctioneers.
This Walter Dorwin Teague Nocturne radio, model 1186, achieved $40,000 plus the buyer’s premium in June 2019. Image courtesy of Wright and LiveAuctioneers.

NEW YORK — Dubbed the dean of industrial design, Walter Dorwin Teague (American, 1883-1960) began his career in advertising and expanded into typography and commercial packaging before focusing on industrial design in the late 1920s. This proved to be a key time for the nascent field, as the United States would soon suffer severe economic hardship during the Great Depression. Companies needed to give customers reasons to buy their products, and they hoped industrial design would supply at least some of those reasons.

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