For this exercise, I was tasked to look into the quick-paced reportage of courtroom sketch artists, specifically Franklin McMahon.
His Approach
Looking at the images in the Bridgeman collection gives a good sense of McMahon's approach to capturing this trial. A lot of the images are notebook pages with pencil sketches.
I am in awe of the way that he captures form in just a few simple lines. From the collection of images, it seems that his approach has as much to do with what is left out, as what is captured. I like the way that he works as quickly as possible given the context of the situation, but also looks for key moments or postures. This results in some cases where his drawings overlap and intersect. I like the feel this gives, almost like there are multiple cameras capturing the scene from different angles.
He tries to capture all the actors in the story, and this includes the courtroom itself.
When he studies the people involved in the case, he manages to capture a sense of their demeanour as well as their actions. He adds his own notes to the pencil drawings to give context to what was happening or being said at that moment. Later he seems to then combine his sketches together to then render the scene in ink on paper.
The way he approaches drawing is fluid and full of energy. When combined with his prestigious perceptive abilities you get a distinctive take on realism. He obviously knows how to draw with accurate perspective, he knows how to draw the human figure accurately. But he doesn't sweat if his choices break those rules.
"What I lose in accuracy I make up for in spontaneity" Franklin McMahon - American Artist Magazine (1956)
His mark-making reminds me of the fluid curves and lines of the illustrator James Albon, who I met at an illustration fair a number of years ago.
He has an impressive sketchbook practice and does a lot of life drawing. I selected the image above for the parallels with McMahon's own reportage work covering civil rights and protests in the United States. I can see the same curvy lines and implied content away from the focus through simple gestures.
Journalism and Truth
In capturing a moment through drawing, I think there must be a significant amount of implicit bias from the sketch artist. First, in what they choose to capture and secondly the depiction itself. However, I don't see any more risk in that approach than in written journalism. The key factor in both ways of recording events is the integrity of the journalist.
The National Union of Journalists has the following code of conduct for journalists:
At all times upholds and defends the principle of media freedom, the right of freedom of expression and the right of the public to be informed.
Strives to ensure that information disseminated is honestly conveyed, accurate and fair.
Does her/his utmost to correct harmful inaccuracies.
Differentiates between fact and opinion.
Obtains material by honest, straightforward and open means, with the exception of investigations that are both overwhelmingly in the public interest and which involve evidence that cannot be obtained by straightforward means.
Does nothing to intrude into anybody’s private life, grief or distress unless justified by overriding consideration of the public interest.
Protects the identity of sources who supply information in confidence and material gathered in the course of her/his work.
Resists threats or any other inducements to influence, distort or suppress information and takes no unfair personal advantage of information gained in the course of her/his duties before the information is public knowledge.
Produces no material likely to lead to hatred or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation.
Does not by way of statement, voice or appearance endorse by advertisement any commercial product or service save for the promotion of her/his own work or of the medium by which she/he is employed.
A journalist shall normally seek the consent of an appropriate adult when interviewing or photographing a child for a story about her/his welfare.
Avoids plagiarism.
When I compare the work of McMahon to this standard, I think that it is wholly in keeping with good journalism. There is no obvious fabrication or bias in what (or who) is covered in the illustrations.
Constructing a moment
I'll focus on one moment to interrogate if his approach seeks to tell the story in an authentic, accurate and fair manner. During the case mentioned in the coursework, the victim's uncle stood up and spoke out to identify the defendants as the perpetrators of the crime. This was a watershed moment as the first time a black American identified a white defendant publicly in court. McMahon captured the moment with one of his sketches:
And - against the rules - at the same time a photographer had managed to surreptitiously take a photograph! I wonder if the forehead we see in the image below is that of McMahon himself.
First, we can see that the salient details of both images are congruent with each other. So far, so good. Now let's look at how McMahon showed the scene once he collected his sketches and immortalised the moment with ink:
He has used a few simple lines to give the sense of proportion and space in the courtroom, but importantly doesn't include the sides of the image - this creates at once a feeling of space, but then focuses the attention on the uncle. The perspective is great, with a slight fish-eye feeling without sacrificing the feeling of realism or accuracy.
You can see details of the furniture, paperwork and the clothes. They all tell the story of the courtroom. So even though this image was composed after the fact, I think it's still an accurate representation of the moment that tells the same (but in a way a very different version of the) story told in the photograph.
Comparing Other Courtroom Sketches
In researching this task, I naturally found other sketch artists' work. I thought it would be useful to look at some other courtroom reportage as a comparison. To see if/how things have changed stylistically and get a broader perspective on the field.
Heidi Elkington's approach in pencil feel stylised in a different way, she makes marks in a very different way. The likeness is veering towards caricature in my opinion but still looks like it is accurate and believable. I like the contrast of the edge lines to the pencil shading.
This image from Elizabeth Cook is closer to what comes to mind when I think of courtroom sketch art. Dry media, that has a life-drawing quality and focuses mostly on the people involved. Whilst there is accuracy in the depictions of the people (it's clear that's Prince Harry, for example), it feels like it's focusing more on likeness than presence and the story playing out in the courtroom.
This image from Susan Bin surprised me a lot. Their background seems to be mostly in concept art and character design, taking a lot of brushwork cues from the comics school. I like the way that they manage to capture likenesses in an efficient way, and the way that they have built up layers of pencil, wash and ink digitally. It's a very clever and skilful demonstration of how they have taken their skills in one industry and applied them to a new context. I think there is a lot I can learn from this artist about broadening my expectations of where my own style can fit into different industry segments. They also seem to do a lot of clothing/fashion illustration so I will refer back to their work in the following exercises.
I enjoyed reportage when I did my Illustration Sketchbooks module, so I am looking forward to flexing some of those practical muscles again in the exercises.
References
Albon, J. (2021) Climate march sketches, Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/CV-DexwslDy/ (Accessed: 15 June 2023).
Bridgeman Images (ed.) (2023) Emmett Till trial images at Bridgeman Images, Bridgeman Images. Available at: https://www.bridgemanimages.com/en-US/search?filter_text=prfx%3Achh%2Bemmett%2Btill&x=0&y=0 (Accessed: 15 June 2023).
Lien, A. (2013) McMahon’s drawings of the Emmett Till murder trial, Art Lien, Court Artist. Available at: https://courtartist.com/2013/02/mcmahons-drawings-of-the-emmett-till-murder-trial.html (Accessed: 15 June 2023).
NUJ (2011) Code of conduct, National Union of Journalists (NUJ). Available at: https://www.nuj.org.uk/about-us/rules-and-guidance/code-of-conduct.html (Accessed: 15 June 2023).
Peng, L. (2013a) Franklin McMahon: ‘what I lose in accuracy I make up for in spontaneity’, Today’s Inspiration. Available at: https://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/2013/02/franklin-mcmahon-what-i-lose-in.html (Accessed: 15 June 2023).
Peng, L. (2013b) The Franklin McMahon interview, part 1, Today’s Inspiration. Available at: http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-franklin-mcmahon-interview-part-1.html (Accessed: 15 June 2023).
All images from Bridgeman images of the Emmet Tillman trial are © Chicago History Museum, used under the educational fair-use policy.
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