Leslie Umberger is an art historian who has specialized in folk, self-taught, and vernacular art since the late 1990s. She is Curator of Folk and Self-Taught Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) in Washington, D.C. Recent projects include the retrospective exhibition Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor (2018-1019), which was accompanied by a major monograph of the same title co-published by SAAM and Princeton University Press (2018), and the reinstallation of the galleries for folk and self-taught art at SAAM in 2016. Other notable publications include: Something to Take My Place: The Art of Lonnie Holley (2015); Untitled: The Art of James Castle (2014), and Sublime Spaces & Visionary Worlds: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists (2007).

Article

• Umberger, Leslie. 2019. "The Transformative Vision of James Hampton." Journal for Epidemiology and Psychiatic Sciences, 28, (5). https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796019000362. 2019
• Doherty, Tiarna, Ingalls, Helen, Kerr, Amber, Maynor, Catherine, and Umberger, Leslie. 2016. "Conserving the self-taught artists collection at the Smithsonian American Art Museum." Studies in Conservation, 61, (Supplement 2) 38–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/00393630.2016.1188616. 2016
• Umberger, Leslie. 2016. "Thornton Dial (1928-2016)." American Art, 30, (2) 110–114. https://doi.org/10.1086/688594. 2016
• Umberger, Leslie. 2015. "Ralph Fasanella: Lest We Forget." Folk Art Messenger, a Journal of the Folk Art Society of America, 25, (2) 4–11. 2015
• Umberger, Leslie and Vine, Richard. 2014. "The Other Art World." Art in America, 102, (1) 43–46. 2014
• Umberger, Leslie. 2012. "A Nest for Dreaming, a Shelter for Imagining." Raw Vision, 48. 2012
• Umberger, Leslie. 2010. "Home Is Where the Heart Is." Raw Vision, 70 28–33. 2010
• Umberger, Leslie. 2009. "Immortalizing the Northwoods: Fred Smith's Wisconsin Concrete Park." Archives of American Art Journal, 48, (3-4) 44–51. 2009
• Umberger, Leslie. 2008. "100 Years of Collage and Assemblage in American Art." American Art Review, 20, (6) 122–123. 2008
• Umberger, Leslie. 2008. "Mary Nohl: An Artist Between Worlds." The Modernism Magazine, (Summer) 66–74. 2008
• Umberger, Leslie. 2007. "Earthly Power." Raw Vision, 59 22–29. 2007

Blog Posting

• Umberger, Leslie. 2018. "On Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor." Eye Level Washington, DC: Smithsonian American Art Museum. Oct 30, 2018. https://americanart.si.edu/blog/eye-level/2018/30/58020/leslie-umberger-between-worlds-art-bill-traylor. 2018
• Umberger, Leslie. 2018. "Qualification, Exclusion, and the Art of Bill Traylor." Eye Level Washington, DC: Smithsonian American Art Museum. Nov 6, 2018. https://americanart.si.edu/blog/eye-level/2018/06/58019/qualification-exclusion-and-art-bill-traylor. 2018
• Umberger, Leslie. 2017. "Thanksgiving with Grandma Moses." Eye Level Washington, DC: Smithsonian American Art Museum. Nov 23, 2017. https://americanart.si.edu/blog/eye-level/2017/23/56816/thanksgiving-grandma-moses. 2017

Book

• Smucker, Janneken and Umberger, Leslie. 2024. Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women [Exhibition catalog] Washington, DC: Smithsonian American Art Musem in association with D. Giles Limited. 2024
• Umberger, Leslie. 2022. We are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection [Exhibition catalog] Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Pres. 2022
• Umberger, Leslie. 2018. Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor [Exhibition catalog] Washington, DC: Smithsonian American Art Museum in association with Princeton University Press. 2018
• Bell, Nicholas R. and Umberger, Leslie. 2014. Untitled: The Art of James Castle. Washington: Smithsonian American Art Museum, in association with D. Giles Limited, London. 2014
• Umberger, Leslie. 2009. American Story [Exhibition catalog] Sheboygan, Wisconsin: John Michael Kohler Arts Center. 2009
• Umberger, Leslie. 2008. Messages & Magic: 100 Years of Collage and Assemblage in American Art [Exhibition catalog] Sheboygan, Wisconsin: John Michael Kohler Arts Center. 2008
• Doss, Erika and Umberger, Leslie. 2007. Sublime Spaces & Visionary Worlds: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists. New York; Sheboygan, Wisconsin: Princeton Architectural Press;John Michael Kohler Arts Center. 2007

Chapter

• Umberger, Leslie. 2022. "The Transformative Vision of James Hampton." In 8th Iranian Artbrut Annual Exhibition. 2022
• Umberger, Leslie. 2021. "African Jungle Picture: If the Ladies Had Knew the Snakes Wouldn't Bite Them They Wouldn't Bit Them They Wouldn't Have Hirt the Snakes; If the Snakes Had Knew the Ladies Wouldn't Have Hurt Them, They Wouldn't Have Bit the Ladies, 1989." In Thornton Dial: The Earliest Years, 1987-1989. Jones, Phillip March, editor. Los Angeles, California: Parker Gallery. 2021
• Umberger, Leslie. 2017. "Emery Blagdon." In The Hidden Art: 20th & 21st Century Self-Taught Artists from the Audrey B. Heckler Collection. Rousseau, Valerie, editor. 128–131. New York: Skira Rizzoi / American Folk Art Museum. 2017
• Umberger, Leslie. 2017. "Lest We Forget." In Ralph Fasanella: images of optimism. Fasanella, Marc, editor. 6–29. Portland, Oregon: Pomegranate. 2017
• Umberger, Leslie. 2017. "Truth Inside the Myth: The Obscure History of Tramp Art in America." In No Idle Hands: The Myths & Meanings of Tramp Art. Addison, Laura, Umberger, Leslie, and Zafran, Eric, editors. 29–43. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Museum of New Mexico Press. 2017
• Umberger, Leslie. 2016. "Charlie Willeto." In As Essential as Dreams: Self-Taught Art from the Collection of Stephanie and John Smither. White, Michelle, editor. 86–92. Houston: The Menil Collection New Haven. 2016
• Umberger, Leslie. 2016. "Grandma Moses." In Pen to Paper: Artist's Handwritten Letters from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art. Savig, Mary, editor. 94–95. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. 2016
• Umberger, Leslie. 2015. "Lonnie Holley: In Memory of the Blood." In Something to Take My Place: The Art of Lonnie Holley. Sloan, Mark, editor. 11–33. Charleston, South Carolina: Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, College of Charleston. 2015
• Umberger, Leslie. 2014. "Journey Inward." In Bernard Langlais at the Colby College Museum of Art. Blunt, Hannah, editor. 121–132. Milan: Edzioni Charta. 2014
• Umberger, Leslie. 2014. "Late works, 1966-1977 -- Materials and techniques: two conservators' reflection." In Bernard Langlais at the Colby College Museum of Art. Blunt, Hannah, Tuite, Diane, and Katz, Vincent, editors. Milan, Italy: Edizioni Charta. 2014
• Umberger, Leslie. 2013. "Emery Blagdon." In The Alternate Guide to the Universe. Rugoff, Ralph, editor. 115. London, England: Hayward Publishing. 2013
• Umberger, Leslie. 2013. "Kantha: The Birth and Rebirth of a Native Art." In Through the Eye of a Needle to Self Help Enterprises (S.H.E.). Basu, Gouri, editor. 2. Kolkata, India: Eastern Zonal Culture Centre. 2013
• Umberger, Leslie. 2013. "Ray Yoshida: Omnivorous." In Ray Yoshida's Museum of Extraordinary Values. Patterson, Karen, editor. 8–11. Sheboygan, Wisconsin: John Michael Kohler Arts Center. 2013
• Umberger, Leslie. 2012. "Timothy Wehrle: I Don't Understand You and I Never Will." In The Drawing Season. Chaloupka, Amy, Ferris, Alison, and Umberger, Leslie, editors. 18–21. Sheboygan, Wisconsin: John Michael Kohler Arts Center. 2012
• Umberger, Leslie. 2010. "Forward." In Norman Pettingill: Backwoods Humorist. 1. San Francisco, California: Fantagraphics Books. 2010
• Umberger, Leslie. 2009. "Forward." In Sonabai: Another Way of Seeing. Huyler, Stephen P., editor. 1. San Diego, California: Mapin Publishing. 2009
• Umberger, Leslie. 2008. "David Butler, Kenny Hill, Roadside Art." In Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Wilson, Charles Reagan, editor. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. 2008
• Umberger, Leslie. 2008. "Emery Blagdon, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Vernacular Art, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art." In Encyclopedia of Outsider Art. 2008

Webpage

• Umberger, Leslie. 2017. Scrap-Patchwork Shelter. 2017
• Umberger, Leslie. 2010. Animal Instinct: Allegory, Illusion, and Anthropomorphism. John Michael Kohler Arts Center. Oct 29, 2010 John Michael Kohler Arts Center. 2010

Exhibit

• Umberger, Leslie, Mecklenburg, Virginia, and Hyland, Anne (Curators). 2024. "Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women." Smithsonian American Art Museum: Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2024-03-28 to 2024-08-26..
• Umberger, Leslie (Curator). 2022. "We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection." Smithsonian American Art Museum: Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2022-07-01 to 2023-03-26..

Presentation

• Umberger, Leslie. 2018. Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor [presentation]. September 26, 2018. Smithsonian American Art Museum.
• Umberger, Leslie. 2016. Can Mike Really Sing? [presentation]. May 12, 2016. Re-Frame. Smithsonian American Art Museum.
• Umberger, Leslie. 2021. James Hampton's Throne of the Third Heaven - American Art Moments [presentation]. December 16, 2021. Smithsonian American Art Museum.