Vintage Photos/1,3,4 M ilton Lipton, 2 Bob Buckman.
One day in
1 9 4 9
, Evelyn and Jerome
Ackerman, young newlywed art stu-
dents, went to the Detroit Institute
of Arts to see “For Modern Living,”
an exhibition organized by the archi-
tect Alexander Girard that surveyed
the new wave of postwar design.
W hat they saw dazzled them.
“It opened our eyes,” Jerome, now
8
9
, remembers. “It was something.
There was Eames furniture,
V ’SoSke carpets, Kurt Versen light-
ing. We walked through all that
and juSt said, wow.” Here, for their
generation, was a fresh and exciting»
A T i m e l i n e o f t h e
L i f e a n d W o r k o f
E v e l y n a n d J e r o m e
A c k e r m a n
1920
Jerome Ackerman
is born in Detroit,
Michigan.
1924
Evelyn Ackerman
is born Evelyn Lipton
in Detroit, Michigan.
Jerome and Evelyn live
only six blocks apart
and attend the same high
school, but their dispar-
ity in age means they do
not know each other
growing up.
I
939
- I
94
I
In Detroit, Jerome be-
gins studies at Wayne
University (now Wayne
State) as an art major.
1941
Evelyn enters the
University of Michigan
as an art major.
1941-43
When the United States
enters World War 11,
Jerome leaves university,
works briefly for a naval
ordnance plant then join:
the Air Force, serving
in Germany.
+
Evelyn transfers to
Wayne University as
a fine arts and art history
major to be closer to her
mother after her father’s
death.
1945
Evelyn receives a
Bachelor of Fine Arts
(with distinction) and
continues in graduate
school at Wayne
University on a
scholarship.
1946
Jerome, discharged from
the military, spends six
months in Los Angeles
and falls in love with
the climate, but decides
to return to famly and
friends in Detroit.
1948
Evelyn and Jerome meet
at her sister-in-law’s
studio, Luc£ Lipton
Interior Designs where
Evelyn works part time;
they begin dating and
quickly fall in love.
On September 12,1948
the couple marry.
jun/julo9 american craft 03^
