Elizabeth Williams, Christine Cornell and Jane Rosenberg are among a dwindling group of courtroom sketch artists. « It’s about trying to draw the most honest and true and real moment, » Williams says.
Only the people in the courthouse for former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial are able to actually see the proceedings unfold.
The high-profile case is not being livestreamed, and photography has been off limits, save for a few still photos of Trump at the start of the trial.
What the rest of us see, we see by viewing the sketches of several courtroom artists who are seated in the gallery, glancing at a turned head or fleeting facial expression, and transforming those impressions into art that’s then shared widely in the news and across social media.
« It’s not always about drawing the most perfect, beautiful picture, » said Elizabeth Williams, who is sketching the trial for the Associated Press. « It’s about trying to draw the most honest and true and real moment, so people can understand what’s going on in that courtroom. »
Williams — along with fellow sketch artists Christine Cornell and Jane Rosenberg — have been hired by various news outlets to draw scenes from Trump’s historic criminal trial in Manhattan, which is ongoing.
Prosecutors say Trump committed election fraud ahead of the 2016 presidential contest by arranging hush money payments that would prevent several stories about him from coming out. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
The trio are among a dwindling group of courtroom sketch artists whose numbers are in decline as more jurisdictions have begun allowing journalists to photograph and film legal proceedings.
Courtroom art has been around for centuries and given the public a view into some of the most notable legal moments in history. But after the frenzy inside the 1935 trial of Richard Hauptman, who was found guilty of murdering the child of aviator Charles Lindbergh, the American Bar Association said cameras should be prohibited in courts, according to the Library of Congress.
That changed in the 1970s as more states began allowing photography and filming in court, and a recent report from the Fund for Modern Courts found that just New York, Louisiana and Washington, D.C., restrict video coverage at most or all trial court proceedings.
Cornell said there are far fewer courtroom sketch artists now than there were when she started in 1975, and that doesn’t appear to be changing.
