Title:
When Can We Go Home?
Creator/Contributor:
Sugimoto, Henry
Date:
1943
Identifier:
92.97.3
Format:
painting
oil on canvas
Denson, Ark.
Inscription:
Signed in medium, bottom left corner: H. Sugimoto, Ark. Written on back, top center: 32 1/2" x 23" / "Daughter asking her
mother" / When can we go home
Description:
Framed and stretched. Wood frame is painted gold, wood showing through in streaks. A girl in red and white dress and white
boots stands with her back to the viewer extending her arms out and pointing northwest with her left index finger. A woman
in a yellow dress with white collar and white shoes, bends her head, extending her arms to embrace the girl. In the foreground,
a rattlesnake, left, and an axe resting against a log with a squirrel sitting on top, right. Above the snake is an image of
the Golden Gate Bridge and above it at the top left is the Los Angeles City Hall. To the right is an image of trees, watch
tower, and a mess hall with sign inscribed Mess 2. Below it is one large sunflower. A transparent lightning bolt segments
the image from bottom left corner to center right edge up toward the upper left corner.
Historical Note:
This painting represents a surprising departure from Sugimoto's usual style and suggests the influence of cubism as well as
Mexican murals. The dramatic lightning bolt fractures the painting. The architectural symbols of California, at left, represent
Sugimoto's life before World War II. The guard tower and camp mess hall to the right, along with the log, axe, snake, and
sunflower below, were common sights in camp and represent the new life Sugimoto was living there. At the center of the painting
stand a woman and child, inspired by Sugimoto's wife and daughter, Madeleine. The title is a question posed by Madeleine to
her parents when they were first confined to Fresno Assembly Center. Later, Sugimoto retitled this composition Longing, after
a work that the poet John Gould Fletcher wrote in response to it.
Subject:
Concentration camps
Concentration Camps, Jerome
Jerome Relocation Center (Denson, Ark.)
Arkansas
Rattlesnakes
Mothers
Daughters
Women
Children
Squirrels
Sunflowers
Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, Calif.)
Buildings
Lightning
Axes
Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
Japanese Americans