Title:
Documentary, Our Mess Hall
Creator/Contributor:
Sugimoto, Henry
Date:
1942
Identifier:
92.97.56
Format:
painting
oil on canvas
Denson, Ark.
Inscription:
Signed in medium, bottom left corner: H Sugimoto. Written on back: by Henry Sugimoto 1942
Description:
Stretched and framed. A group of eight people eat fish and rice at a table. In the foreground, with their backs to the viewer,
a woman in rust red with white pattern feeds her child dressed in blue in the lower left ; seated next to them a man in blue
overalls shovels rice with his chopsticks and arms upraised ; a boy in black and white stripes eats in lower right. Seated
across the table in the upper left, facing the viewer, an old woman with brown sweater and blue scarf eats next to a boy in
green who refuses food with upraised hands and turning head from his mother dressed in red over yellow in the center ; a girl
in blue with white collar and a red bow in her hair pokes at her food on the upper right. White plates of fish and rice sit
on the long wooden table next to white cups. At table center are salt and pepper shakers and two other condiment bottles.
In the background on the wall are two brownish signs with black print, "No Second Serving!" and "Milk for Children !
and Sick people only."
Historical Note:
"Of course, it was impossible to be picky about what you wanted to eat. They knew that the Japanese really liked rice, so
rice was always part of the menu at least once a day. However, there were times when the rest of the meal didn't really go
with rice. At times, there would be food that just wasn't appetizing at all, so you had to either try to eat at least one
bite or just go without the meal." (from Henry Sugimoto's diaries)
Subject:
Concentration Camps, Jerome
Jerome Relocation Center (Denson, Ark.)
Arkansas
Mess halls
Children
Men
Women
Dinners and dining
Food
Rice
Signs