UMLAUF Sculpture Garden + Museum

Museums, Historical Sites, and ZoosUnited States11-50 Employees

The UMLAUF Sculpture Garden + Museum provides educational experiences that encourage the understanding and appreciation of sculpture, and exhibits the work of Charles Umlauf and other contemporary sculptors in a natural setting.

In 1985, Charles and Angeline Umlauf gave their home, studio, and 168 pieces of Umlauf works to the City of Austin. Six years later, in 1991, a new museum was built on adjoining city property with private funds raised under the leadership of Austin arts patron Roberta Crenshaw.

In a successful partnership between Austin’s private and public sectors, the Umlauf Sculpture Garden organization funds, manages, and maintains the Museum while the City’s Parks and Recreation Department maintains the xeriscape garden. The full range of Charles Umlauf’s work can be seen in both permanent and changing exhibitions inside the museum as well as outside in the garden.

About Charles Umlauf:
Charles Julius Umlauf was born to French and German immigrant parents on a farm outside South Haven, Michigan. Umlauf’s fourth grade teacher recognized his talent and helped him earn summer scholarships at the Art Institute of Chicago. Following high school, he studied at the Art Institute and the Chicago School of Sculpture working under master sculptors Lorado Taft and Albin Polasek. In 1937, Umlauf married fellow Art Institute student Angeline “Angie” Allen. In 1941 the couple moved to Austin when Umlauf became a life drawing and sculpture instructor at the University of Texas’s young art department. He taught at UT for 40 years, retiring as Professor Emeritus in 1981. 
Umlauf won numerous prestigious awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Ford Foundation Grant. Public collections and museums across the United States own his work, including the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In Texas, there are more Umlauf sculptures in public locations than works by any other single sculptor.

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