This Moment in Art History

AKA The One She Drew Back

This is the Ghislaine Maxwell sketch of her sketching the sketch artist Jane Rosenberg Reuters, but I call it The One She Drew Back, pastel on Canson, 2022.

I like to read the news. You see a lot of courtroom sketches in the headlines, and I don't think too much about them. I also don't go for superhyped stories like the Ghislaine Maxwell. But there was something striking about the thumbnail for this article, so I saved it for posterity. 

There's a lot going on here. First is the gaze, the subject of many art history theses. You don't see the person in the courtroom looking at the artist like this, it just doesn't happen long enough that the artist would end up catching it or devoting a portrait to it.

She was staring at the sketch artist because she was sketching the artist doing the sketching, which is good enough as it is, but we'll get to that in a moment. For now, it's a big deal because as a picture, she's not looking at the artist, she's looking at you, the viewer, which is a little unsettling because she's on trial for sex crimes, and she's looking right at you, staring into your soul, and for as long as you keep your eyes open to look.

That's the power of the gaze in art, and that's enough to make this a noteworthy piece. Not to mention the artist, Jane Rosenberg, has been at this for 40 years; she is an absolute professional in her field. Norman Rockwell was a commercial illustrator, until he became recognized as a fine artist. 

But let's get to the good stuff. The reason we get this shot, of her staring for so long at the sketch artist that we get a sketch of her direct gaze, is because she's sketching the artist. And the artist knows this, and she's then drawing the sketch of herself in the sketch. 

(We have to mention that during this very intense trial, they are staring at each other the whole time this is happening, long enough to do this sketch. )

This isn't Velázquez in Las Meninas, or M.C. Escher in the crystal ball, or Norman Rockwell in his studio. She's not drawing herself into the picture, she's drawing someone else drawing her into the picture. You came for the gaze, but you stay for the recursive lasagna. 

"Cult leader Charles Manson used to draw his sketch artist in court, she added."

-(Another) New York-based Illustrator Elizabeth Williams, New York Post article, link

The Gallery, by Jane Rosenberg for Reuters, 2022:

I almost forgot about the mask, which looks basically invisible to me right now, but likely will not in ten years: 

It’s much harder to sketch someone wearing a mask, but thankfully Ghislaine had very expressive eyes. Because that’s all I’ve got, eyes and hair. We basically have a half face to work with during the Covid era. People might think it’s easier, but it’s not.

Towards the end of the Maxwell trial, the Omicron variant became a big concern. They started making us wear these N95 masks that I couldn’t properly breathe in. The rules must have changed as Ghislaine was no longer able to hug her lawyers. It all just got so scary.

-"I was the court artist who Ghislaine drew back"  Jan 2022, Jane Rosenberg, The Independent, link

Tools of the Trade:

I bring prescription binoculars that I can wear on my head, a tripod, a thermos of coffee, a backpack with lunch, and a cushion to sit on on those hard bunches. ... I sketch in pastels on Canson paper. I bring latex finger cots because my skin gets so dried out from digging into my pastel box. 

In those days [the 1980's] there was always a camera person waiting outside the court for the sketch. I had to rush out of the courthouse and tape it up to the side of a truck. They’d take a copy and a motorcycle courier would rush it back to the newsroom. Later on, they’d send a satellite truck to send it back to the newsroom. Now I take a digital photograph of my sketches and send them by email.

-The Independent

Order in the Court:

Jane Rosenberg’s sketch of John Evans in 1983 electrocuted three times before he died.

Although some state courts now televise trials, American courts have historically resisted allowing cameras – because photography is considered distracting, and can turn courts into media spectacles, and because of the risk of compromising the identities of jurors or protected witnesses. (New York permits photography on a case-by-case basis, but federal courts strictly prohibit it.)

‘My life is weird’: the court artist who drew Ghislaine Maxwell drawing her back

Dec 2021, J Oliver Conroy, The Guardian, link

Witness Protection:

When courtroom artists sketch jurors or sensitive witnesses they often leave their faces blank. Rosenberg’s illustrations of the Maxwell trial and other cases include poignant portraits of anonymous witnesses with ghostly, blank faces, their features sometimes further obscured by hands clutching tissues.

-The Guardian

The Post Script:

I'd like to connect this post with the Art Cop, another niche-world art professional, also from New York City. 

And this photo, the crediting an artwork in itself:

Court sketch artist Jane Rosenberg, Courtesy of Jane Rosenberg, no credit necessary, 2022, The Independent, link