James Hampton (April 8, 1909 – November 4, 1964) was an American outsider artist. Hampton worked as a janitor and secretly built a large assemblage of religious art from scavenged materials, known as the Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly. Often abbreviated to simply the Throne, it is currently on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington. Art critic Robert Hughes of Time magazine wrote that the Throne "may well be the finest work of visionary religious art produced by an American." Early life James Hampton was born in 1909 in Elloree, South Carolina as one of four children to James Sr. and Sarah (Johnson) Hampton. His father, who had abandoned the family, was a gospel singer and a traveling Baptist preacher who was also a known criminal who had worked on chain gangs. In 1928, Hampton moved to Washington, D.C. and shared an apartment with his older brother Lee. Hampton worked as a short-order cook until 1943 when he was drafted into the United States Army Air Forces. He served with the 385th Aviation Squadron in Texas, Hawaii and in the jungles of Saipan and Guam. The segregated unit was noncombatant and duties included carpentry and maintenance of airstrips. Hampton built a small, shrine-like object during his time in Guam that he later incorporated into his larger artwork. He was awarded the Bronze Star and was honorably discharged in 1945, after which he returned to Washington. In 1946, Hampton was hired by the General Services Administration as a janitor and worked there until his death. Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly In 1950, Hampton rented a garage on 7th street in northwest Washington. Over the next 14 years, Hampton built a complex work of religious art inside the garage with various scavenged materials such as aluminum and gold foil, old furniture, pieces of cardboard, light bulbs, jelly jars, shards of mirror and desk blotters held together with tacks, glue, pins and tape. The complete work consists of 180 objects, many of them inscribed with quotes from the Book of Revelation. The centerpiece of the exhibit is a throne, seven feet tall, built on the foundation of an old maroon-cushioned armchair with the words "Fear Not" at its crest. The throne is flanked by dozens of altars, crowns, lecterns, tablets and winged pulpits. Wall plaques on the left