Title:
Coal
Creator/Contributor:
Hibi, Hisako
Date:
9/1/1943
Identifier:
96.601.13
Format:
painting
oil on canvas
Description:
Unframed stretched canvas. Image of a red truck in a field with a fence around it. In the background are barracks and smoke.
Historical Note:
At the Topaz concentration camp each barrack was divided into separate spaces, or "apartments" as they were called. In actuality
they were small, cramped quarters where families or groups of single men were housed. Each space was approximately sixteen
by twenty feet. They were furnished with a pot-bellied stove which the internees used to heat their living quarters. For
most internees it was a new experience to use a coal-burning stove. There were sometimes coal shortages which was yet another
difficulty of camp life. Internees relied on the coal-burning stoves to provide the necessary warmth in the barracks during
the severe winters in Utah. In this painting Hibi depicts a truck making a delivery of this precious commodity. The pile
of coal appears as a large mass in front of a building, although it was not always in such great supply. Internees had to
gather and haul their own supply of coal from a central place back to their barrack.
Subject:
Concentration Camps, Topaz | barracks | mountain | truck | field