Documentary, Our Mess Hall

Maker Henry Sugimoto (American, 1900 - 1990)

Date1942

Mediumoil, canvas

DimensionsH: 24 in, W: 30 in, Frame: 26 x 32 in

ClassificationsFine Arts

Credit LineGift of Madeleine Sugimoto and Naomi Tagawa, Japanese American National Museum

Object number92.97.56

DescriptionStretched 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."