Image courtesy of Mark and Carolyn McMahon.
Franklin McMahon at his studio putting the finishing touches on a painting of Ernest Hemingway’s home in Key West, Florida. Image courtesy of Mark and Carolyn McMahon.
Image courtesy of Mark and Carolyn McMahon.
Image courtesy of Mark and Carolyn McMahon.
Reportorial artist Franklin McMahon bore witness to history. His drawings provided unique perspectives on the political, religious and cultural epochs of the 20th century, in particular illuminating the struggle for civil rights in periodicals across the country.
Franklin McMahon’s most influential drawing was done at the outset of his career. In 1955, Life magazine commissioned him to produce courtroom sketches at the Emmett Till murder trial in Mississippi. By the time his drawings were published the following week, the all-white jury had acquitted the defendants, who later admitted to committing the crime. Coverage like this drawing, depicting Rev. Moses Wright pointing at the accused murderers of his 14-year-old great-nephew, helped raise the national profile of the case, which is credited as one of the events to launch the civil rights movement.
While Franklin McMahon’s work as an artist-reporter took him all over the globe, Lake Forest always served as home base. His sketch pad and charcoal pencils accompanied him to courtrooms and conventions, to the Vatican and NASA mission control, and to every presidential campaign from 1960 to 2008. But it was at his Lake Forest studio that McMahon would add color to his on-the-spot drawings, using acrylic watercolor paint.
The McMahons constituted an extraordinarily creative family, pictured here in the 1960s at their home on Mayflower. Franklin McMahon’s wife, Irene Leahy McMahon, was a noted travel writer, and their nine children went into arts-related professions. Top row, left to right: Mary, William Franklin, Patrick, Debbie, Margo, Mark, Hugh. Middle row: Franklin, Michael, Irene. Front row: Michelle.
In the 1990s, Franklin and Irene McMahon travelled to Jerusalem to follow The Way of the Cross, the journey of Jesus through the streets of the city to Calvary. Franklin’s drawings were translated into ceramic tiles that depict the Stations of the Cross and were installed at St. Patrick Catholic Church. Depicted here is the Second Station.