Flight & Fall: Charles Umlauf's Dualities
December 12, 2017 - March 11, 2018
Over his long career, Charles Umlauf created numerous works that explored oppositional tendencies in the human psyche. Umlauf found the duality in human nature intriguing, leading him to explore classic notions such as good and evil, virtue and vice, and the sacred and the profane. His iconic sculpture, the Spirit of Flight (1959), celebrates one of humankind’s historic achievements. Yet Umlauf also created the harrowing Icarus, a bronze figure revealing a complementary theme from mythology. As Gibson Danes, former Dean of Yale School of Art and Architecture, wrote: “Umlauf is, in fact, more than one person, as most gifted people have to be. He perceives sculpture as being public and private, monumental and intimate, deeply religious and subtly erotic.” Flight & Fall explores these dualities and others in Umlauf’s art, taking visitors on a rich journey through human archetypes.