| Gerald M. Ackerman | |
| Birth Name: | Gerald Martin Ackerman |
| Birth Date: | 21 August 1928 |
| Birth Place: | Alameda, California, United States |
| Death Place: | Claremont, California, United States |
| Occupation: | Art historian Educator |
| Spouse: | Leonard R. Simon |
| Alma Mater: | University of California, Berkeley Princeton University |
| Thesis Title: | The Structure of Lomazzo's Treatise on Painting |
| Thesis Url: | http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990018449950203941/catalog |
| Thesis Year: | 1964 |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Rensselaer W. Lee |
| Academic Advisors: | Erwin Panofsky |
| Discipline: | Art history |
| Sub Discipline: | Nineteenth-century French art |
| Workplaces: | Bryn Mawr College Stanford University Pomona College |
Gerald "Jerry" Martin Ackerman OAL (August 21, 1928 – January 1, 2016) was an American art historian and educator. Ackerman was Professor of Art History Emeritus at Pomona College. He was a leading authority on the art of Jean-Léon Gérôme and Charles Bargue.[1]
Born in Alameda, but raised in Santa Cruz, Ackerman was born to Alois and Eva Sadler. While studying at the University of California, Berkeley, Ackerman had a brief relationship with poet Robert Duncan.[2] Ackerman graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1952, and then continued on to receive a Doctor of Philosophy from Princeton University in Art History in 1964.[3] His doctoral dissertation was on the painter Gian Paolo Lomazzo, supervised by Rensselaer W. Lee.[4]
In 1959, while studying at Princeton, Ackerman began his teaching career at Bryn Mawr College as a lecturer. Six years later, he was hired at Stanford University as Assistant Professor of Art History. In 1971, Ackerman was hired at Pomona College at the level of Associate Professor. Five years later, he became Professor and Department Chair, and spent the rest of his career at Pomona. Ackerman retired from teaching in 1989 and became Professor Emeritus.[5] In 1994, he had a stint as Appleton Distinguished Professor at Florida State University.
In 2012, Ackerman was named Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.
In 1962, Ackerman met his long-time partner and husband, Leonard R. Simon. The couple remained together until Simon's death in 2014.[6] Ackerman died two years later.