Works from two prolific courtroom sketchers on display at UC Berkeley
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Works from two prolific courtroom sketchers on display at UC Berkeley
By Michelle Maitre BERKELEY, STAFF WRITER
Oakland Tribune
February 19, 2005
THEY'RE THE unforgettable images of a turbulent time: Charles Manson's
steely glare, Patricia Hearst with that rifle, a defiant Angela Davis
on trial.
They leap off the page in vibrant inks, pencil and crayon - powerful
and unique visual records of some of the most sensational and salacious
trials of the late'60s and early'70s captured at the hands of two of
the most prolific courtroom sketch artists, Walt Stewart and Rosalie
Ritz.
About three dozen sketches and related items belonging to Stewart and
Ritz are on display through March 31 at the Bernice Layne Brown Gallery
in the Doe Library at the University of California, Berkeley.
The artists covered hundreds of trials during their decades-long
careers - Stewart for NBC and other organizations, and Ritz for CBS,
The Associated Press and others - but exhibit curator Jack von Euw
selected images mainly from seven trials that were covered by both. He
combed through more than 4,000 images from the artists that have been
donated to the Bancroft Library, and selected those with both
historical impact and a connection to the library's collections.
"I didn't want a rogue's gallery, but I wanted cases with the most
impact," von Euw said.
Included in the exhibit are images of well-known trials such as the
1970 murder trial of Charles Manson and his "family," the conspiracy
trial of activist Angela Davis, Patricia Hearst on trial for bank
robbery and Black Panther Party founding member Eldridge Cleaver.
Also included are images from the trials of the so-called Soledad
Brothers - George Jackson, John Cluchette and Fleeta Drumgo, accused
of murdering a guard at Soledad Prison; People's Temple member Larry
Layton, sentenced to life in prison in 1981 for aiding in the murder of
Rep. Leo Ryan during Ryan's investigative journey to Jonestown; and the
trial of prison inmate Ruchell Magee, who helped kidnap several
hostages from a Marin County courtroom in a case tied to the Soledad
Brothers trial.
The images date from a time before photographers were routinely let
into courtrooms and offer the only visual record we have of the early
trials, von Euw said.
They also highlight the different styles of Stewart, who died in 2002,
and Ritz, 81, who is retired and lives in Walnut Creek. O.J. Simpson's
civil trial was the last she sketched.
Ritz's sketches have almost a watercolor quality and are most often in
pencils and crayon. The margins of her works are filled with copious
notes, detailing the action and the context of the drawing.
"What I really liked were the trials where the lawyers were imbued with
constitutional issues," Ritz said. "Honestly, I hope it happens again
in history, because we were living through quite a time."
Stewart, on the other hand, has a more technical style. He sketched
with an ink pen and filled in the color with markers. His drawings are
marked with succinct notes - "white shirt, blue pants" - to jog his
memory when completing his work.
Von Euw said it's fitting the sketches are on display in the library,
whose holdings include various manuscripts tied to the events depicted
in the drawings, such as Cleaver's papers and the original manuscript
of Joan Didion's "The White Album."
"Usually, when people think of libraries, they think of books and other
contextual materials," von Euw said. "They don't think about the other
things that are really of great historical value. There are many things
you can learn from these drawings."
"Ritz and Stewart: Two Artists of the Courtroom" is on display through
March 31 in the Bernice Layne Brown Gallery in the Doe Library at the
University of California, Berkeley. Library hours are 8 a.m. to 9
p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday and 1 to 9 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free.