In Camp Jerome

Sugimoto, Henry [ bio ]

Description

Image of a Nisei soldier standing in salute in front of a cross looking down at a woman dressed in dark blue in the foreground who holds up a senninbari (protective talisman made from cloth and 1,000 stiches, given to and worn by Japanese American soldiers). Rows of small white crosses on green grass fill lower left and right background. In the upper right background is the image of an American flag over a red star above a large "V". (Very similar to the painting entitled Senninbari, also by Sugimoto 92.97.140.)

Inscription
Signed in medium, bottom right corner: Henry Sugimoto Written on back: [Japanese characters] in camp Jerome/24"x19 1/2"

History
Issei mothers prepared their sons for war by creating a senninbari, a protective talisman made of cloth. An image is sewn onto the fabric, with a thousand stitches done by many women throughout the camp. Sugimoto's sympathy for both nisei soldiers and their issei parents is evident in this work.

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Hirasaki National Resource Center at the Japanese American National Museum (hnrc@janm.org).