Title:
Barrack 9, Apt. 6, San Bruno, CA
Creator/Contributor:
Hibi, Hisako
Date:
6/25/1942
Identifier:
96.601.3
Format:
painting
oil on canvas
Description:
Unframed, stretched canvas. Image of barracks and two people walking between buildings. Mountains in the distance.
Historical Note:
The title of this painting refers to the new quarters for the Hibi family at the Tanforan Assembly Center. However, it is
not clear whether Hibi included their barrack in this painting or whether she was painting the view from their new home.
There is nothing to suggest that either the barrack at the left or the one further away in the distance was barrack number
nine. The viewer's eye follows the woman with the bucket in the foreground to the sketchy figure at the left, and finally
diagonally recedes into the space of the mountains in the background. The guard tower is unmistakably central in the background
of the work. The figures are not painted in detail, instead they are sketched with broad shapes and modeled with patches
of color. It was typical of Hibi to paint people with a lack of specificity. They often appear as lone, anonymous figures
in the landscape.
Subject:
Assembly Centers, Tanforan | barracks | mountains | people