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Evelyn Lambart
Evelyn Lambart
Born	July 23, 1914; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Died	April 3, 1999 (aged 84); Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Education	Ontario College of Art
Occupation(s)	Animator, director
Years active	1940-1980

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]

Early years

Born in Ottawa, she was hearing impaired from an early age, which she later credited with focusing her attention on the visual world as a means of communication. After attending Lisgar Collegiate Institute in Ottawa, Lambart studied at the Ontario College of Art for five years, graduating in 1937. Her plan had been to continue her art studies in the U.K., however, the outbreak of Second World War made that impossible. Instead, Lambart spent a year and a half working with Grace Melvin on illuminations and lettering for the first Books of Remembrance, commemorating Canadian war dead in the First World War (now on display at St. Paul's Cathedral).^[2]

NFB career

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 its 1999 obituary for Lambart, Animation World Network stated that:

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.

Honours

Lambart was awarded a posthumous Winsor McCay Award in 2022.^[11]

Filmography

Story of a Violin - documentary short, Jacques Bobet 1947 - co-animator with Norman McLaren
The Impossible Map - documentary short, 1947 - animator, director
Begone Dull Care - experimental short, 1949 - editor, co-animator and co-director with Norman McLaren
Family Tree - animated short, 1950 - co-director and co-animator with George Dunning
Challenge: Science Against Cancer - documentary short, Morten Parker 1950 - co-animator with Colin Low
The Fight: Science Against Cancer - documentary short, Morten Parker 1950 - co-animator with Colin Low
The Outlaw Within - documentary short, Morten Parker 1951 - co-animator with Colin Low
Now is the Time - experimental, Norman McLaren 1951 - co-producer
Around Is Around - experimental short, Norman McLaren 1951 - co-animator with Norman McLaren
Sing a Little - animated short, Tom Daly 1951 - co-animator with Jean-Paul Ladouceur
O Canada - experimental short, 1952 - animator, director
The Maple Leaf - documentary short, J.V. Durden 1955 - co-animator with Robert Verrall
The Colour of Life - documentary short, J.V. Durden 1955 - co-animator with Robert Verrall
Rythmetic - animated short, 1956 - photography, co-director and co-animator with Norman McLaren
Putting It Straight - documentary short, William Greaves 1957 - co-animator with Sidney Goldsmith
A Chairy Tale - experimental short, Norman McLaren and Claude Jutra 1957 - animator
Le Merle - animated short, Norman McLaren 1958 - co-animator with Norman McLaren
Short and Suite - experimental short, 1959 - co-animator with Norman McLaren
Lines: Vertical - experimental short, 1960 - co-animator and co-director with Norman McLaren
Les femmes parmi nous - La dignité - documentary short, Jacques Bobet 1961 - co-animator with Arthur Lipsett
Les femmes parmi nous - Le bonheur - documentary short, Jacques Bobet 1961 - co-animator with Arthur Lipsett
Lines: Horizontal - experimental short, 1962 - co-animator and co-director with Norman McLaren
Mosaic - experimental short, 1965 - co-animator and co-director with Norman McLaren
The Hoarder - animated short, 1969 - animator, director
The Embryonic Development of Fish - documentary short, J.V. Durden 1961 - animator
Fine Feathers - animated short, 1968 - animator, director
Paradise Lost - animated short, 1970 - animator, director
The Story of Christmas - animated short, 1974 - animator, director
Mr. Frog Went A-Courting - animated short, 1974 - animator, director
The Lion and the Mouse - animated short, 1976 - animator, director
The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse - animated short, 1980 - animator, director

Awards

Begone Dull Care (1949)

Venice Film Festival, Venice: First Prize, Art Films, 1950
2nd Canadian Film Awards, Ottawa: Special Award, Experimentation, 1950
Salerno Film Festival, Salerno, Italy: Honourable Mention, Miscellaneous Film, 1950
Berlin International Film Festival, Berlin: Silver Medal, Documentary Short Film, 1951
American Federation of Arts and Film Advisory Center Film Festival, Woodstock, New York: Best Experimental Film, 1952
Durban International Film Festival, Durban: First Place, Silver Medal, Experimental, 1954

Family Tree (1950)^[12]

Salerno Film Festival, Salerno: First Prize – Grand Award, Best of All Entries, 1951
3rd Canadian Film Awards, Ottawa: Special Award for Outstanding Animation and Musical Score, 1951
Rapallo International Film Festival, Rapallo: Second Prize, Art Films, 1957

Now is the Time (1951)

4th Canadian Film Awards, Special Award for Experimental Filmmaking, 1952 (with Around Is Around)

Around Is Around (1951)^[13]

BFI London Film Festival, London: Nominee: Best Animation, 1957
4th Canadian Film Awards, Special Award for Experimental Filmmaking, 1952 (with Now is the Time)

Rythmetic (1956)

6th Berlin International Film Festival, Berlin: Silver Bear, Short Films, 1956
Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburgh: Diploma of Merit, 1956
Rapallo International Film Festival, Rapallo, Italy: First Prize, Abstract Films, 1957
International Review of Specialized Cinematography, Rome: Diploma of Honour, 1957
Chicago Festival of Contemporary Arts, University of Illinois Chicago: First Prize 1957
Golden Reel International Film Festival, Film Council of America, New York: Silver Reel Award, Avant-Garde and Experimental, 1957
Durban International Film Festival, Durban: Certificate of Merit, 1957
Johannesburg International Film Festival, Johannesburg: Certificate of Merit, 1957

Lines: Vertical (1960)^[14]

Venice Film Festival, Venice: First Prize, Experimental, 1960
BFI London Film Festival, London: Outstanding Film of the Year for Presentation, 1960
Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburgh: Diploma of Merit, 1960
CIDALC Festival of Music and Dance in Film, Valencia: First Prize, 1961
13th Canadian Film Awards, Toronto: Best Film, Arts and Experimental, 1961

Mosaic (1965)^[15]

Vancouver International Film Festival, Vancouver: Certificate of Merit, 1965
FIBA International Festival of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires: First Prize, 1966
Melbourne Film Festival, Melbourne: First Prize, 1966
American Film and Video Festival, New York: Blue Ribbon, 1966
Calvin Workshop Awards, Kansas City, Missouri: Notable Film Award, 1966

The Hoarder (1969)^[16]

International Festival of Films for Children and Young Adults, Tehran: Plaque and Diploma, 1970
FIBA International Festival of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires: Honorable Mention, Animation, 1970
Tisquesusa Dorado International Festival of Short Films, Bogotá: Best Animated Film, 1971
American Film and Video Festival, New York: Blue Ribbon, 1971

Paradise Lost (1970)^[17]

National Educational Media Network Competition, Oakland, California: Don Fabun Award for Film as Art, 1972

References

^ Mazurkiewich, Karen (8 March 2016). "A Tribute to Eve Lambart". northernstars.ca. Northern Stars. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
^ Canadian Women in Film, Collections Canada Archived 16 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine
^ Robertson, Joanne. "Making Movie History: Colin Low". nfb.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
^ Robertson, Joanne. "Making Movie History: Robert Verrall". nfb.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
^ Robertson, Joanne. "Making Movie History: Robert Verrall". nfb.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
^ "Begone Dull Care". Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada Web site. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 29 February 2008.
^ NFB Collections page, A Chairy Tale
^ Kilmer, David (16 April 1999). "Evelyn Lambart, 1914–1999". Animation World Network. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
^ ^a ^b "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.