Form Givers at Mid-Century exhibition at Cranbrook Art Museum, April 1961. Designed by Gyorgy Kepes under the auspices of the American Federation of Arts, the exhibition featured scale models, artists’ renderings, and oversized photographs of thirteen major modern architects, including Eero Saarinen, son of Eliel Saarinen (Photo: Harvey Croze, © Cranbrook Archives, source).
Cranbrook Academy of Art Galleries
Into the early 1950s, Cranbrook Art Museum steadily built upon the encyclopedic collection of fine and applied arts established by George Booth. By 1955, the trustees of the Cranbrook Foundation agreed on a new name—Cranbrook Academy of Art Galleries—and a new mission: to “continue to show art of the past, but [to] stress the program of activities especially in contemporary decorative and practical art, sculpture and painting.” The name change from Museum to Galleries was significant. It clearly represented a shift from an encyclopedic collection to one that would focus on contemporary practice, like the commercial galleries devoted to living artists that were rapidly forming in New York City.
39221 Woodward Ave Box 801
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303
248.645.3323
artmuseum@cranbrook.edu
Mon - Tues, Closed
Wed, 11am - 5pm
Thurs, 11am - 8pm, FREE Admission
Fri - Sun, 11am - 5pm
Copyright © 2025 Cranbrook Art Museum. All rights reserved. Created by Media Genesis.
