Existing comment:
Reading the Jury:
Gibson uses the jury as a device for visual study of women from diverse social backgrounds as they respond to a hypothetical case. He skillfully delineates an array of social types as seen in the wide range of ages, and varied dress and headgear that indicate socioeconomic status. Their expressions run the gamut from skeptical to incredulous to disdainful to pitying. Women hardly ever served on juries in 1902, the year of this drawing, except when called upon to do so in rare cases involving women defendants. |