André Girard

Directing · Born May 25, 1901 · Chinon, Indre-et-Loire, France

André Girard, French painter of religious subjects and a professor of art at Queensborough Community College in Bayside, Queens, was noted for his technique of painting on 70-mm. film, not in separate pictures but in a continuous sequence. He called it "painting on light." When the film is projected, the translucent images seem to flow from one into the next. Mr. Girard was a native of Chinon, France. While a student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he met Georges Rouault, the celebrated artist, and studied under him from 1918 until Rouault died in 1952. In 1959, he said in an interview with John P. Shanley in The New York Times: "There are several steps in my work. First I draw on trans- parent paper. Then, using 70- mm. film over a light box, I paint in black and white. After that I paint on film in color. We shoot what I have done in 35-mm. film. "Movement is my main concern. There is so little room in which to work on the film. In composing each picture I have to consider the speed of the projector. After the filming has been completed, I cannot cut it because then the effect of long sequences would be lost." Shown on Television Mr. Girard is represented in the permanent collections of the French State Museum and other museums in Europe and in the United States and his work has been exhibited in this country. His 70-mm. film on the Nativity was presented nationally on television by Hallmark in December, 1959. During World War II, he served in the French underground and, in appreciation of this war service, President Harry S. Truman presented him with the Legion of Merit. Mr. Girard taught art at City College here from 1957 to 1959 and at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland from 1947 to 1949.