Exercise 2

Courtroom dramas

Look at the drawings and reflect on McMahon has approached the task of documenting a courtroom drama. How does his approach to drawing tie in with the motion of journalism and truth? What do you think he’s managed to capture in these drawing sand how has he done it? Write a short statement summarising your reflections. You may want to annotate some of his drawings, highlighting particular areas of interest.

Back in the 1950’s Mississippi wouldn’t let camera’s into the courtrooms for trials, so newspapers would send illustrators in to capture the scene’s and drama.

The trial of two white men for the murder of the teenager Emmett Till, was allegedly the start of the the Civil Rights movement in America.

McMahon was sent in as a journalist/ illustrator to capture the people and the narrative of the case.

I have picked out some of the quick sketches that McMahon drew, this one above showing the stance of the deputy sheriff standing, he has caught the angel of the body and the way the hands are placed, the way his shirt is ruffled.

Here he has roughly sketched Mamie Bradley, details of her outfit and what she is holding, along with a sketch of a bag, a chair, and of two men in the courtroom, plus the backside of someone sitting down on a side view. This is where you can see MaMahon’s sketching style, he picks things he might use in a larger drawing and draws the details for his reference later.

Here McMahon has done a more detailed sketch of the courtroom, here he is setting out the layout of the room, the perspective and where people are positioned, so the viewer can get a sense of space, depth and feel for the courtroom drama. The pencil work is more delicate and light, but shows more details.

Here we can see a final finished piece, and how McMahon has built up the sketches to get to a drawing like this one, finished in ink wash this drawing is more accomplished and shows the atmosphere of the courtroom. The people in this drawing were probably sketched separately then put together in this last drawing, some of the details like the fabrics, the positions of the hands could have all been sketched roughly at first then drawn in later on this piece.

I think the way McMahon has used his journalism to sketch the trial is the same as if he was a writer, a writer would use short hand to get as much info down as possible, without the unnecessary bulk of what was needed. McMahon used quick sketches instead to get the detail down without needing to draw the whole scene each time.

I think drawing in this way helps to gain the small details that would pick up on the trial and drama, without spending too much time on all the other areas, this is where a journalist can pick out and know the areas that would add that feeling and drama to a piece, the instinct the journalist has learnt would really help in this field.