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Enlarge Image (78.1KB)
painting
H: 16 in, W: 20 in
canvas
oil
Subject Tags
Barracks
Chimneys
Coal
People
Shovels
Snow
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A cold day
Hisako Hibi [bio]
Topaz, Utah,
February 1944
(96.601.38)
Gift of Ibuki Hibi Lee
Hisako Hibi Collection
Description
Unframed, stretched canvas. | Image of a person shoveling snow or coal in foreground next to piles of black rocks, probably coal, in front of barracks at Topaz concentration camp, Utah. Smoke rises from chimneys of snow covered barracks in background.
Inscription
Signed, LR: Hisako Hibi / April 1944
History
Central to this painting is the figure in the foreground who seems to be shoveling snow or coal. Like most of the people in Hibi's camp paintings, the figure is anonymous and generally unidentifiable. The piles at the right and left are probably coal which was needed for the pot-bellied stoves. Every "apartment" had such a stove that served as the only source of heat during the severely cold winters at Topaz. Coal supplies were unpredictable and internees were responsible for gathering what coal they could from a central location to their living quarters. This figure is probably in the midst of collecting more coal for the barracks. Thick black smoke rises from the chimney in the background, referencing the burning coal in one of the pot-bellied stoves. Absent from this painting are many of the usual signifiers that this is a camp setting. The typical rows of barracks has been replaced by a small cluster of buildings. The barbed-wire fence and guard towers are also missing. It is a serene scene of a cold and snowy landscape.
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).
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