I’ve always felt drawn to James Hampton's The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations’ Millennium General Assembly, an iconic artwork in SAAM’s collection. Even without knowing much about it, I found myself repeatedly visiting the gallery and sitting on the bench in front of the installation and taking it all in. And there’s a lot to take in.
The piece is comprised of about 180 elements (of which 60 or so are currently on view) that Hampton put together himself, often covering each piece with silver and gold foil. He lived and worked in Washington, DC as a janitor in a federal office building. Many parts of The Throne are made from everyday things that had been discarded including sections of tables and chairs, vases and light bulbs. At the center of the piece are the words, “Fear Not.”
Leslie Umberger, curator of folk and self-taught art at SAAM, puts the work into context: “Hampton's masterpiece has become an enduring icon at SAAM. It's very human scale, there are crowns that look like they would fit right on your head or maybe that Hampton had worn. It's glimmering and resplendent and really beautiful. And it's also just profoundly humble, this amazing artwork that's made out of almost entirely discarded things just carefully covered and adorned and put together with such care. It's a very moving piece.”
Hampton spent about fourteen years assembling The Throne, basing it on a series of visions he had. Eventually, the work took on a life of its own, and he rented a carriage house near his home where he could work and assemble it. I wonder what it was like to see his creation unfold, glittering when a source of light hit one of the foil pieces.
The presentation in SAAM's galleries includes a few elements that Hampton likely did not regard as part of the altar itself, but were found near it, and that reveal his working methods: a chalkboard showing some of Hampton's sketches or working plans and a small book he kept, written primarily in an invented or "asemic" script, meaning it is unreadable or lacking specific semantic content. Hampton referred to himself as "Director, special projects for the state of eternity" as well as "Saint James," an echo of Saint John who was divinely instructed to record his vision of the second coming in a secret script in a small book.
Hampton had a vision that he brought to life but, sadly, died before he could complete it, let alone see it acquired by SAAM in 1970. “It rapidly became an audience favorite,” Umberger adds, “and it has rarely been off view since then.”
Learn more about this iconic artwork in the American Art Moments video below. Curator Leslie Umberger discusses its creation, its relevance today, and the lasting impact of James Hampton’s vision.
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James Hampton's The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly is one of the most important and beloved artworks at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), and it is full of mysteries. Discover more as Leslie Umberger, SAAM's curator of folk and self-taught art, shares insights into Hampton's life as a self-taught artist of color creating in Washington, DC, during the Civil Rights movement, and the lasting importance of his efforts. The Throne, a monumental artwork with more than 180 components wrapped in gold and silver foil, came fully to light only after the artist's death. While Hampton’s views on his life’s work went undocumented, the splendor and magnitude of his project is evident to all who experience this powerful yet enigmatic artwork.
This video is part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's ongoing series American Art Moments. Join a SAAM expert and go beyond the artwork label to discover the untold stories and rich connections represented in some of the museum's most iconic artworks.
When James Hampton was making the sculptural artwork that he called "The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly," I don't think that he could have imagined that his creation would one day count among the most important works at the Smithsonian, let alone that it would one day impact the larger history of American art.
We really don't know a great deal about James Hampton. He died before he finished The Throne or before anyone could ask him all of the questions that we would want to today. But another reason that we know so little about him is because artists like Hampton were almost always overlooked. It was generally believed that if you weren't educated to be an artist or you weren't making things that were in step with the mainstream art world, that your art didn't matter. And if you happened to be an untrained artist of color, there was even less chance of being recognized as an artist of any value.
Hampton was born in 1909 in South Carolina, and when he was 19, he followed his older brother north to live in Washington, DC. Hampton was drafted into World War Two, and after the war, he returned to DC and he worked nights as a janitor in a federal building until he died in 1964.
We think that Hampton began making small pieces of sculpture in the late 1930s, but it was really in 1950 when he rented a workspace just to accommodate this project, that what we think of as The Throne really began taking shape. Overall, Hampton made about 180 components for "The Throne." There's a big, cushioned chair that sits at the rear center, and above that are the commanding words, "FEAR NOT." And then from there it spans out symmetrically on either side, one side being dedicated to the Old Testament and the other side being dedicated to the New Testament of the Bible. And each piece is mirrored with a similar piece on the other side of it. There are discarded pieces of furniture, chairs, little tables, there are vases, light bulbs. He covered everything in metallic silver and gold foils and a colored paper that was probably purple but has faded over time.
When Hampton died, the owner of the space that Hampton rented as a workshop, he discovered what Hampton had been working on. He started bringing people to see it. Although the nature and full meaning of Hampton's efforts were not well understood at the time he died, those who saw The Throne understood that it had been a man's life's work, that it was important and worth understanding better. The work was purchased and donated to SAAM and a large portion of the array went on view in 1970. It rapidly became an audience favorite, and it has rarely been off view since then.
I think it's important to consider the deeper implications of The Throne, made by a Black man during the Civil Rights movement in Washington, DC, which was a city with a large, thriving African American population. But it was also very much a place in which white men put their power on display.
Hampton's masterpiece has become an enduring icon at SAAM. It's very human scale, there are crowns that look like they would fit right on your head or maybe that Hampton had worn. It's glimmering and resplendent and really beautiful. And it's also just profoundly humble, this amazing artwork that's made out of almost entirely discarded things just carefully covered and adorned and put together with such care.
Hampton's project might be best understood as a testament. On a bulletin board in his workspace, he pinned up one of his driving mottos, which was, "Where there is no vision, the people perish."
Artists have been capturing all the different moods of light for millennia. American artists such as members of the Hudson River School, or the American impressionists, managed to capture light as a way of defining the landscape.