Jane Rosenberg

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Jane Rosenberg is an American courtroom artist known for her pastel sketches of high-profile defendants, including Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, and Bill Cosby.

Biography[edit]

Rosenberg studied fine art at the Art Students League of New York, where abstract art was more popular than her preferred realism.[1][2] She describes herself as having been a "closet portrait artist", drawing portraits in her kitchen.[3] After graduating, she worked as a portrait artist in Provincetown, Massachusetts, sketching tourists for a dollar and busking by reproducing famous paintings in sidewalk chalk.[2][4][5] When Rosenberg attended a lecture by courtroom artist Marilyn Church at the Society of Illustrators, she was inspired to attempt courtroom sketches herself.[2][6]

To prepare a portfolio, Rosenberg began to attend the evening sessions of the New York City Criminal Court, where she sketched prostitutes at their arraignments.[6][7] When she asked a court officer where the artists sat, he invited her to join them in the jury box the following week during the arraignment of Craig Crimmins.[3][6][8] CNN declined to buy the sketch, but Rosenberg successfully sold it to NBC, which aired the image on the evening news. The 1980 sale began Rosenberg's career as a courtroom artist.[6]

Rosenberg, who has now worked as a courtroom sketch artist for more than 40 years, lives in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, near Columbia University. She is married to a criminal defense attorney whom she met at a courthouse; the couple have one child.[2][6]

Works[edit]

Media[edit]

Rosenberg works in pen, pencil, and pastel to produce her courtroom sketches.[3][7] The pastels present problems when she covers out-of-state cases; they break easily during travel, and can appear to be bullets during security screenings.[2] Her kit also includes a cushion, a foam board to rest her drawing on, binoculars, finger cots, protein bars, and water bottles.[2][6][7] She transports her supplies in a large wheeled container; inside, a smaller box, held together with rubber bands and gaffer's tape, holds her pastels, sorted by color.[7] After each day in court, Rosenberg spends at least half an hour cleaning and organizing her equipment, discarding the stubs of pastels, and ordering replacements.[2]

Subjects[edit]

In addition to defendants, Rosenberg sketches jurors and witnesses, whom she often depicts with blank faces to protect their anonymity.[2] In some cases, judges rule that she cannot depict vulnerable witnesses.[9] The nature of her job means that she has to draw quickly, and sometimes observe from a video monitor in an overflow room, which Rosenberg dislikes.[2][8] Defendants sometimes approach Rosenberg to make requests about their depictions: John Gotti asked her not to draw his double chin, Weinstein wanted more hair, and Donald Trump Jr. said to "make me look sexy."[4][6] Others, including Ghislaine Maxwell, Eddie Murphy, and Igor Fruman, have sketched Rosenberg themselves.[9]

Rosenberg generally works on high-profile cases.[4] Her subjects have included:

Rosenberg has described Don King and Donald Trump as fun to draw.[3][7] By contrast, she was traumatized by sketching the 1983 execution of John Evans, and came to oppose the death penalty as a result.[2]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Timileyin, Habib (June 17, 2023). "Who is Jane Rosenberg? Revisiting why Tom Brady courtroom sketch got artist in trouble with fans". sportskeeda. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Conroy, J. Oliver (December 15, 2021). "'My life is weird': the court artist who drew Ghislaine Maxwell drawing her back". The Guardian. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Charalambous, Peter. "'A lot of expression': Courtroom sketch artist Jane Rosenberg talks drawing Trump at his arraignment". ABC News. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lee, Lloyd. "Courtroom artist reacts to Donald Trump Jr. posting her sketch to his Instagram saying he got the 'Kermit the frog' treatment". Insider. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Cardiel, Mateo Sancho (July 21, 2023). "Jane Rosenberg: A courtroom sketch artist and the creator of a historic 'New Yorker' magazine cover". EL PAÍS English. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Weiss, Suzy (September 18, 2020). "Courtroom sketch artist remembers 40 years of bad guys". New York Post. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Fertig, Beth (November 4, 2019). "The Women Who Sketch Justice at Work". WNYC. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  8. ^ a b c Bishara, Hakim (September 3, 2020). "This Courtroom Artist Has Sketched Some of the Most High-profile Cases of the Century". Hyperallergic. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  9. ^ a b Liscia, Valentina Di (December 3, 2021). "Ghislaine Maxwell Stared at Her Courtroom Artist and Sketched Her Right Back". Hyperallergic. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
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