We, as a nation, owe a lot to our cinemas for it has always unfailingly filled in the gaps in our education system. No English class had ever taught us that all the love sonnets we had to recite, would eventually be tuned to music and sung while prancing around trees. We were never told in all the Sherlock Holmes novels we’ve read that the prime precondition for a perfect disguise was a fake mole on the chin. It took our films to enlighten us on these details. And what about the courtrooms? What appeared as boring spaces in our innumerable books, miraculously turned into venues of spectacular drama on screen. Lawyers would flutter their black coats while engaging in vocal cord debates, tempers would run high, and the audience would wait for that one hard-hitting dialogue that would clinch the case in favour of the hero. Amid all this drama, one ingredient alone was ignored in our textbooks and our movies — the courtroom artist.
As fancy as the term sounds, a courtroom artist is the one who sits through a court trial and sketches the goings-on. The beginnings of courtroom sketching finds its roots in the Salem Witch trials between 1692 and 1693. People who were accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusettes were imprisoned or executed and artist Tompkins Harrison Matteson painted these trials, which serve as documented proof even today. The first official record of courtroom sketching was however in 1859, at the trial of John Brown, an American activist who was charged with treason and sentenced to death. Sketching artists flocked to cover the crucial moments of the case until his hanging.
Unlike popular belief, these artists are not part of the legal system. They are mostly freelance artists who work for media publications. Even with the invention of the camera, this art form continues to be relevant primarily because most courts still do not allow film recordings within the courtroom as they are often considered to be too intrusive and hence, sketching still remains the only go-to option for many judicial proceedings, especially high-profile cases.
There are a few basic requirements to qualify as a courtroom artist though and no, academic art training is not one. Although a degree in art may provide a strong foundation, a formal certification is never demanded. Speed to draw along with the proceedings and the skill to capture them with accurate details are of utmost importance. Understanding courtroom etiquette and legal terminologies is also useful to do justice to the illustrations. The styles may vary but the artistic freedom to imagine is a definite no-no and the sketches must be a true account, bringing in the personality of the players as well as their emotions in the charged atmosphere.
India has been historically strict with sketching or filming inside the courtroom but these artists still thrive in the Western world and their sketches have helped in capturing many crucial moments in history. Their ability to compress all the drama into a single frame is finally getting due recognition with exhibitions of their works being held. It’s high time we truly honour this hitherto disregarded art form!