Evelyn Lambart (July 23, 1914 – April 3, 1999) was a Canadian animator and film director with the National Film Board of Canada, known for her independent work, and for her collaborations with Norman McLaren.[1]
In 1942, due to an ever-growing demand for animation, NFB commissioner John Grierson asked McLaren to form an animation unit and, in January 1943, 'Studio A' formally came into existence. Lambart was one of McLaren's first recruits and the first female animator hired by the board. She would also train other animators; both Colin Low and Robert Verrall credited her with teaching them their animation skills.[3][4]
Lambart and McLaren were an immediate and permanent fit; she was methodical and pragmatic, he was a creative 'dreamer'.[5] In 1949, they co-directed Begone Dull Care, which was designated as a "masterwork" by the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada.[6] She did animation for McLaren and Claude Jutra's pixilation film A Chairy Tale,[7] and for several other ground-breaking films, many of which she co-directed or directed, including Rythmetic (1956), Lines: Vertical (1960), Lines: Horizontal" (1962), and Mosaic (1965).
In the early 1960s, McLaren became interested in ballet films, which held no interest for Lambart, so she started thinking about doing her own films. She perfected the technique of paper cutouts transferred to lithograph plate which she would then paint and animate. She used this technique in seven award-winning films: Fine Feathers (1968), The Hoarder (1969), Paradise Lost (1970), The Story of Christmas (1973), Mr. Frog Went A-Courting (1974), The Lion and the Mouse/Le Lion et la Souris (1976) and The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse/Le Rat de maison et le Rat des champs (1980).[8]
These animated morality tales for children included several adaptations of Aesop's fables, and were all rendered with the same style of paper cut-outs transferred to lithograph plates, painted and animated.[9]
In 1978, she was the subject of the biographical documentary Eve Lambart directed by Margaret Wescott.[9][10]
Her last known film, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse (1980), was completed at her home studio in Quebec's Eastern Townships after her retirement in 1977. She died in Ottawa in 1999.
^Kilmer, David (16 April 1999). "Evelyn Lambart, 1914–1999". Animation World Network. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
^ ab"Evelyn Lambart". Canadian Film Encyclopedia. Toronto International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
^"Eve Lambart". Collections page. National Film Board of Canada. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
^SCVNews|CalArtians Among the Nominees, Honorees for 50th Annie Awards
^"Family Tree". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
^"Around is Around". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
^"Lines: Vertical". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
^"Mosaic". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
^"The Hoarder". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
^"Paradise Lost". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
External linksedit
Watch films by Evelyn Lambart at NFB.ca (Requires Adobe Flash)