Paulette Frankl (born 25 February 1937) is an American

courtroom artist A courtroom sketch is an artistic depiction of the proceedings in a court of law. In many jurisdictions, the use of cameras in courtrooms is generally prohibited in order to prevent distractions and preserve privacy. This requires news media t ...

and author.

Biography

Frankl was born in California and attended

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, where she majored in art and languages. Frankl exhibited her first artwork in Los Angeles, California, at age 7 in a joint show with her father, Paul T. Frankl, an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

furniture designer and architect. She worked with author Christopher Long, sharing documents, photos, and family background for a 2007 biography of her father.

Courtroom art and paintings

Her

courtroom sketch A courtroom sketch is an artistic depiction of the proceedings in a court of law. In many jurisdictions, the use of cameras in courtrooms is generally prohibited in order to prevent distractions and preserve privacy. This requires news media t ...

es, drawings and paintings from both federal and superior cases have aired on

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...

and "Talk America" and have taken her to the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

. In 2008, Frankl was included in a feature story by photographer David Friedman about courtroom artists and their work outside the courtroom. Frankl has authored a biography titled '' Lust for Justice'' about J.

Tony Serra Joseph Tony Serra (born December 30, 1934) is an American criminal defense and civil rights lawyer, attorney, political activist and tax resistance, tax resister from San Francisco. Early life and education A San Francisco native, Serra was ra ...

, a radical

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

, criminal defense attorney and tax resister, about whom the 1989 film '' True Believer'' starring

James Woods James Howard Woods (born April 18, 1947) is an American actor. Known for fast-talking, intense roles on screen and stage, he has received numerous accolades, including three Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for t ...

and

Robert Downey, Jr. Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965), also known as RDJ, is an American actor. One of the highest-grossing actors of all time, his films as a leading actor have grossed over $14 billion worldwide. In 2008, Downey was named by ''Time ...

was based. The book, which launched in San Francisco in November 2010, includes Frankl's original courtroom art done during Serra's trials. The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' called the book a reflection "on the work of a larger-than-life persona." Her paintings were included in 2005 in a two-month-long Las Vegas Art Museum exhibit titled "XV Santa Fe Artists." In October 2004, she was a featured artist, with her art on display, at the Las Vegas Fine Arts Salon, as part of the 2004 Las Vegas Book Festival.

Photography

Frankl has worked as a

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...

for international magazines and has lived in the U.S. and Europe. Her work includes a cover photo on France's ''

Réalités ''Réalités'' (حقائق meaning ''Realities'' in English) is a weekly French-language Tunisian news magazine. History and profile An independent magazine, it is published by Maghreb Media each Thursday. It was founded in 1979 by Taïeb Zahar an ...

magazine''. Also, while overseas, she worked as a staff photographer for Gruner & Jahr's ''

Twen ''Twen'' was a West German magazine that was published from 1959 to 1971, and known for its innovative design and typography. History and profile ''Twen'' was launched in 1959 as a bimonthly magazine and the first issue appeared in April 1959. ...

'' and ''Eltern'' magazines. The German '' GEO Magazine'' in the 1970s profiled Frankl's lifestyle in California, and she was also featured in ''Sunset'' magazine. Her photos are also featured inside and on the cover of ''The Lost Dogs of Shoretown: A Koko the Canine Detective Mystery'' by Annie Mack about the coastal village of

Bolinas Bolinas is an unincorporated coastal community and census-designated place in Marin County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 1,483. It is located on the California coast, approximately (straight line dis ...

, where Frankl lived for nine years and from where she commuted to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

courthouses as a courtroom artist. Frankl also illustrated the 1993 book ''Animals... Our Return to Wholeness'' by Penelope Smith.

Mime

Frankl also has worked as a

performance artist Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

in the fields of magic and

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

. Her association with

Marcel Marceau Marcel Marceau (; born Marcel Mangel; 22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007) was a French mime artist and actor most famous for his stage persona, "Bip the Clown". He referred to mime as the "art of silence", performing professionally worldwide ...

as collaborator and

muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

spanned 30 years, resulting in a memoir ''Marcel & Me'', released in 2014. Her appearance doing mime and magic at

Carnival of Venice The Carnival of Venice (; ) is an annual festival held in Venice, Italy, famous throughout the world for its elaborate costumes and masks. The Carnival ends on Shrove Tuesday (''Martedì Grasso'' or Mardi Gras), which is the day before the star ...

in the late 1970s was featured on Italian television. In 2006, she completed the Bob Fitch Performance Workshop Theater Training for Magicians, held in Canada.

Personal life

She is the daughter of art deco furniture designer Paul T. Frankl, granddaughter of a land speculator in Vienna, Austria, and the mother of Nicolas Koenig, a creative director for

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

s and interactive game design. Frankl lives in

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fourt ...

Books

* ''Lust for Justice: The Radical Life & Law of J. Tony Serra'', by Paulette Frankl, edited by Deke Castleman, foreword by

Gerry Spence Gerald Leonard Spence (born January 8, 1929) is a semi-retired American trial lawyer and author. He is a member of the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame and is the founder of the Trial Lawyers College. Spence has never lost a criminal trial before a jur ...

''Lust for Justice: The Radical Life & Law of J. Tony Serra'', released October 22, 2010
/ref> * ''Marcel & Me: A Memoir of Love, Lust, and Illusion'', by Paulette Frankl

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frankl, Paulette American women painters American women illustrators American illustrators Courtroom sketch artists American biographers 1937 births Living people American legal writers American magicians American people of Austrian descent Artist authors Artists of the American West Painters from California Photographers from California American women biographers 21st-century American women photographers 21st-century American photographers