Michael Cohen, captured for posterity

Introducing Rakewell, Apollo’s wandering eye on the art world. Look out for regular posts taking a rakish perspective on art and museum stories

It’s fair to say that Michael Cohen, formerly Donald Trump’s lawyer, has not had a good month – and, if a widely circulated likeness is anything to go by, he has not been minded to hide it. Cohen, who was sentenced to three years in prison last week, was sketched at his hearing by veteran courtroom artist Jane Rosenberg, who depicted him looking somewhat less than cheerful.

The sketches went viral almost as soon as they were released to the public – and Twitter users were swift to point out their art-historical echoes:

WTH with these courtroom sketches of Michael Cohen’s sentencing?
I couldn’t put my finger on it until …. pic.twitter.com/5VyyM4vu1Q

— Adam Longo (@adamlongoTV) December 13, 2018

In other news…

In Massachusetts, Frank Gehry is designing a $65m museum dedicated to ‘extreme’ train sets. But recently, the model railway community’s attention has been focused elsewhere. Jools Holland, Boogie Woogie maestro and cover star of the current issue of Railway Modeller magazine, has allowed the publication into his manor house in Kent to get a look at the 100ft-model railway he has spent the past decade constructing in his attic.

The railway features dioramas of locations across Europe, including a detailed recreation of London in the 1960s. ‘To my mind a model of a real place creates a personal take on history,’ he told the magazine. ‘Photographs can provide the stimulus but cannot evoke that special atmosphere in a way that models can.’ The attic, apparently, is a good place to switch off from the pressures of showbiz: ‘There isn’t a very good phone signal in here.’

What’s in a name? For the artist born Alalia Chetwynd, rather a lot. Previously known as ‘Spartacus Chetwynd’ and later ‘Marvin Gaye Chetwynd’, she has now settled on the name ‘Monster’. In an interview with the Observer last weekend, she explained why. ‘I’m quite engulfing now, so Monster fits,’ she told the paper’s Vanessa Thorpe. ‘At first it was an experiment, an artistic shield. And it worked really well.’ As for her friends, she says, ‘they are really happy to call me Monster.’

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