Cranbrook Academy of Art was founded through the inspired collaboration of George Gough Booth, a Detroit newspaper baron and philanthropist, and Eliel Saarinen, the Finnish architect who occupies a major position in the history of modern American design and architecture. George and Ellen Booth envisioned the Academy as a school that would train artists, an atelier that would produce objects to embellish and improve the American environment, and a community where art would be integrated with daily life to the benefit of all. In practice, the Academy was born of the Arts and Crafts concerns of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and emerged as the country’s preeminent school of art, design, and architecture.

Eliel Saarinen became the first president of the Academy, in addition to acting as master architect for most of the institutions the Booths founded on their estate (adjacent to the Academy is the Institute of Science and the Cranbrook/Kingswood Schools). By the early 1930s, Saarinen had designed the Academy and attracted an illustrious group of artists and craftsmen, many from Europe, to work with him in informally structured groups, sharing ideas and talent. What escalated into an intense, interdisciplinary, highly creative community set the tone for the Academy’s future as it attracted such renowned artists as Carl Milles, Harry Bertoia, Charles Eames, Maija Grotell, Eero Saarinen and Florence Knoll. These and numerous other Cranbrook artists have had a major impact on 20th-century art, design and architecture.

Formally founded in 1932, the Academy was given the power to grant degrees in 1942 and currently offers the Master of Fine Arts and the Master of Architecture degrees. Unlike other institutions, the Academy has chosen to remain small in size, offering students, faculty and visiting artists the benefits of close and creative relationships. Today, the Academy is no longer an atelier in the old sense of the word but a community of artists and students, where learning and creativity come from dealing with contemporary issues in art, design and architecture. The achievements and influence of Cranbrook artists, past and present, have been acknowledged nationally and internationally. The graduate-level Academy provides an environment that continues to nurture the high-quality learning experiences for which it is known.