In 1927 George G. Booth established the Cranbrook Academy of Art as an educational environment where students could come and learn from master artists in residence. These artists-in-residence would contribute to the aesthetic development of the Cranbrook community. The Academy functioned as a department under the Cranbrook Foundation and included painting, architecture, sculpture, ceramics and decorative design. The first Academy students were taken in early 1930. In 1933, the Foundation Board of Trustees allowed the daytoday operations of the Academy to be administered by the Academy of Art President and an Executive Secretary. In 1942, with the opening of the Museum and Library, the Academy became an autonomous educational, policy-making and administrative unit. The Art Museum was intended not only to house artworks acquired from George G. Booth through the Cranbrook Foundation, but also to serve as a teaching tool through its permanent collections and exhibitions in both the museum and the library.

Frank Leonard Allen was engaged by the Cranbrook Foundation as the Director of Art Education (1930-1932) to serve as an advisor related to the art work carried on by all of the Cranbrook schools. On 16 Jun 1932, he tendered his resignation and on the same day, the Foundation created the office of the President of the Academy of Art. The Board of Trustees elected Eliel Saarinen as the first President (1932-1946). Saarinen was also head of the Cranbrook Architectural Office, chief architect for most of Cranbrook’s institutional buildings through 1942, and head of the Academy’s Department of Architecture. Saarinen was assisted by an Executive Secretary, Richard Raseman (1932-1941), who was solely responsible for the administration of the Academy. Raseman was instrumental in shepherding the proposal for the Academy to become incorporated as a separate educational institution.

Saarinen was succeeded by Zoltan Sepeshy, who became the Director of the Academy of Art (194659) and was then elected President (195966). Glen Paulsen, head of the Architecture Department, succeeded Sepeshy (1966-1971). In 1971, Paulsen was replaced by Wallace Mitchell who had been a student at the Academy, a painting instructor (1936-1954), Registrar of the Academy (1944-1958), and Director of the Cranbrook Academy of Art Galleries (1954-1971).