A Summer Day

Hibi, Hisako [ bio ]

Description

Unframed, stretched canvas.

Image of two girls in white tops, blue skirts and orange hats walking in breeze of summer day with guard tower and fence in background at Topaz concentration camp, Topaz, Utah. In foreground, girls face right, walking toward barracks at far left. A line of poles of fence guide the viewer's eye to the left where a dark guard tower stands. Mountain in distance under cloudy skies.

Inscription
Signed, LR: Hisako Hibi June 1943. Written on back: July 1943 Topaz Utah 'a hot summer day' Toward-Southern Gate.

History
Two figures in orange hats and white tops stand together, situated within a landscape. Hibi depicts the figures with their skirts and hair billowing behind them as they appear to make their way towards a barrack at the right. In the background stands a guard tower and a row of poles which form a diagonal recession into space. The mountain in the distance is painted in a smooth, sloping shape with a minute peak that falls in the center of the canvas. Hibi uses purple and grey tones to create a muted and soft effect for the mountain. This is in opposition to her other paintings which depict the mountains of Topaz with a great deal of modeling and highlighting.

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).