A Unique Calling
Celebrate Religious Freedom Week September 21 through September 29 with James Hampton's intricate religious art.
James Hampton had a calling that gave him a secret life. Employed as a janitor, he swept, he mopped, and emptied the trash. Dumpsters and neighborhood streets were goldmines from which he collected the discards that became his medium. After work, he would bring his finds back to a rented garage, where, for more than twenty years, he constructed a variety of magical objects. ... The works became larger and more elaborate. Plaques distinguished the walls, chairs became thrones, tables transformed into altars, and stacked forms evolved into pedestals to hold crowns and books. His imagination, his vision, his creations filled the garage to capacity.
Source: Betye Saar, "Personal Selection: Temple for Tomorrow," American Art, Fall 1994, p. 132.
Pictured: James Hampton, 1909–1964, The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly, about 1950–1964, gold and silver aluminum foil, Kraft paper, and plastic over wood furniture, paperboard, and glass, 180 pieces in overall configuration: 10 1/2 x 27 x 14 1/2 ft., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of anonymous donors.
Celebrate Religious Freedom Week September 21 through September 29 with James Hampton's intricate religious art.
James Hampton had a calling that gave him a secret life. Employed as a janitor, he swept, he mopped, and emptied the trash. Dumpsters and neighborhood streets were goldmines from which he collected the discards that became his medium. After work, he would bring his finds back to a rented garage, where, for more than twenty years, he constructed a variety of magical objects. ... The works became larger and more elaborate. Plaques distinguished the walls, chairs became thrones, tables transformed into altars, and stacked forms evolved into pedestals to hold crowns and books. His imagination, his vision, his creations filled the garage to capacity.