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| Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman at their ERA Industries showroom, Los Angeles, early 1970s. Photo: Bob Lopez |
The joint career of Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman almost demands comparison to that of a better-known designing couple, Charles and Ray Eames. Like the Eameses, the Ackermans went to art school in Michigan, became partners in life and art, and headed west for Mid-Century Los Angeles. Their work combines sophisticated abstraction with a Brady Bunch palette and excursions into middlebrow ditsy. The Ackermans are only now being rediscovered, and Craft Contemporary’s "Material Curiosity by Design: Evelyn & Jerome Ackerman" is a worthy introduction.
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| Installation view, "Material Curiosity by Design" |
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| Jerome Ackerman, Cups (about 1953–54) and Bottle with Stopper (1955) |
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| Jerome and Evelyn Ackerman, Angel with Lyre platter, 1954 |
Jerome Ackerman was a studio ceramicist, and Evelyn was the idea woman, mistress of all media. She got first billing (unlike Ray Eames, whose contributions were often slighted). The Ackermans collaborated most directly on ceramics, where Jerome was potter and Evelyn was painter. Evelyn is unquestionably the show's star.
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| Evelyn Ackerman (designer), Girl with Flowers, 1958; Queen and King, 1958 |
Evelyn's version of Modernity has a medieval vibe. Her best-known works are tapestries and mosaics. Figures of the late 1950s have El Greco, stretched-on-the-rack proportions. She took up cloisonné enamel in the 1960s.
The Eameses produced practical objects—leg splints, chairs, coat racks. Their output falls easily under the heading of industrial design and into MoMA's timeline of serious Modernism. Most of Evelyn's work is decorative. With her tapestries and mosaics she achieved the elusive goal of making Modern design affordable.
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| Evelyn Ackerman, Clouds (glass mosaic), 1959, and Hot Summer Landscape (tapestry), 1958, and related drawings |
Some of Evelyn's work of the late 50s is indebted to Matisse's cut-outs. In the 60s she took on elements of Op and California Hard-Edge, creating textile abstractions rivaling any of her So. Cal. contemporaries.
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| Evelyn Ackerman, Checkerboard, 1959 |
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| Evelyn Ackerman, Striped Candy Tree, 1968 |
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| Evelyn Ackerman, Labyrinth, 1969 |
"Material Curiosity by Design" is at Craft Contemporary through May 10, 2026. The show incorporates work by three contemporary artists, Porfirio Gutiérrez, Jolie Ngo, and Vince Skelly. Deploying ancestral knowledge, 3D printing, and a chainsaw, respectively, it's a bracing chaser to the Ackermans. But given that the Ackermans are still unfamiliar to most people, the contemporary trio might have worked better as a companion show.
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| Gallery wall with objects by Evelyn Ackerman, Vince Skelly, Porfirio Gutiérrez, and Jolie Ngo |
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| Evelyn Ackerman's drafting table (by architect Eugene Alexander), about 1949 |
Comments
> "Material Curiosity by Design:
> Evelyn & Jerome Ackerman"
This blog entry made me curious about the location. Hey, it's right across the street from LACMA! Instead of Six Degrees from Kevin Bacon, how about Six Degrees from Govan/Zumthor?
I've been ragging on LACMA for being too much into contemporary, while, not too long before Pereira's buildings were torn down, the former "Craft and Folk Art" became "Contemporary." Maybe that name change affected Govan? LOL.
I'm old enough to vaguely recall a business on Wilshire Blvd named "Egg and Eye" (which preceded the name "Craft and Folk"), which I didn't know opened in 1965, the same year that LACMA did.
LAConservancy .org: In 1974, The Egg and the Eye became the Craft and Folk Art Museum. It underwent a sensitive renovation in 1995 by architects Craig Hodgetts and Ming Fung.