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Evelyn Lambart

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Evelyn Lambart

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.

Born in Ottawa as a deaf individual, she later credited her mother for fostering her interest and future career in film. Due to her hearing impairment, her mother supplied her with ink and paper, fostering her relationship with animation. 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).

Lambart started at the National Film Board of Canada in the titling department, as a letterer, tasked with creating title cards for animations, alongside any other text involved in the films. Her first start in making animations was for wartime propaganda films such as Main Dish (1943), Fortress Japan (1944), and several segments for the recurring weekly show The World in Action (1941-45).

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 and is considered "First Lady of Canadian animation". McLaren was confident in the choice of Lambart as they had worked alongside one another in the titling department of the National Film Board of Canada.

One of the first productions that Lambart had taken full creative control of was a collaboration with her and McLaren called The Impossible Map (1947). It was an education film centered around explaining the concept of comparing 3D and 2D shapes. The film used maps and the globe as a way to explain the concept, as Lambart specialized in map animations. The film used a cutout grapefruit with the map of the world painted on it to visualize the distortion of illustrating a 3D map in 2D.

During her time at the National Film Board of Canada, Lambart also trained other animators; both Colin Low and Robert Verrall credited her with teaching them their animation skills. She collaborated with Low on The Challenge (1950), an educational film centered around educating the audience on the effects and mystery surrounding cancer and how leading medical professionals aim to treat and prevent the disease. Lambart and Lows contribution to the film included extensive animated sequences of how the various cells in the body are affected by the cancer cells.

During her career at the National Film Board of Canada, Lambart was a part of many films, perhaps her most celebrated contribution being 1949's Begone Dull Care, a film she edited, co-directed, and co-animated with her National Film Board of Canada colleague, Norman McLaren. While many attribute the notoriety of the film to the more popular McLaren, Lambarts contributions remain relevant to the success of the film. The experimental film was shot using sheets of celluloid that were marked and scratched by McLaren. The marked sheets of celluloid were paired alongside a score from Canadian jazz musician Oscar Peterson. McLaren and Lambarts visuals served as a visual representation of the music, which aimed to match the experimental visual style with the highs and the lows of the jazz performance.

Begone Dull Care serves as one of the most celebrated Canadian films, winning six international film prizes within the first five years of its release.

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