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Foreboding Foil: The Throne's Militant Materiality
Larnerd, Joseph Harold
Larnerd, Joseph Harold
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2011
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Art History
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http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/1674
Abstract
A glistening armada advances--airborne atomic assailants, the Christian soldiers of the nuclear age. Barrels fixed, scopes centered, abstracted pilots attentive and alert, James Hampton's colossal assemblage The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly (c. 1950-1964), an anticipatory altar of Christ's Second Coming, threatens viewer annihilation. Radiating foils besiege spectators in total illumination. Hampton's friend Otelia Whitehead, who viewed the work in its creator's company, recalled, "it was like the wings of Gabriel were beating in...extremely bright light." The Throne's lustrous reflection evokes its historical moment, an era entrenched in glaring fears of nuclear holocaust. Despite pervasive mid-century malaise and Hampton's direct participation in World War II, previous studies largely neglect his Cold War consciousness, focusing instead on the altar's Christian character. Radiating foil, evocations of WWII aircraft, and apocalyptic allusions to President Harry Truman, I contend, conspire to lend this evangelical altar secular urgency at the advent of the "atomic age.
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