Title:
A cold day
Creator/Contributor:
Hibi, Hisako
Date:
2/1/1944
Identifier:
96.601.38
Format:
painting
oil on canvas
Description:
Unframed stretched canvas. Image of a person is in the foreground sweeping a snow covered area. There are piles of rocks and
barracks in the background.
Historical Note:
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rows of barracks has been replaced by a small cluster of buildings.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.
Subject:
Concentration Camps, Topaz | barracks | snow | broom | woman