ART AS ANODYNE FOR A YOUNG PATIENT: A Girard Anecdote


Master of Mud (aka artist) and former Center for Creative Studies (CCS), Detroit,  professor of art, Bill (William J.) Girard Jr., passed away in 2011. The website created to honor him is found at https://girardsvasari.com/
-------------------------------------------------------

Anecdote and image shared by Carl P., 2019, and used with his permission.



Detail of  Untitled Sketch. Artist: Bill Girard. Royal Oak, MI. 1940-2011.

Bill (Girard) was a very special person indeed and also my cousin.

In 1972, as a teen fascinated with things that went boom, I suffered an accident making homemade firecrackers which nearly blew my left hand off… Multiple surgeries later the hand was salvaged…

It was summer, 1974, and I was lying in a Detroit hospital bed recovering from what I believe was my 12th surgery in a little over two years. Ironically, perhaps, it was the evening of July 4th and from my window, I could see flashes of color in the night sky that told me the annual fireworks show on the Detroit River was in full glory. There with me, alone, and not with his own family enjoying the holiday, was Bill.

Beyond that - July 4th, hospital, fireworks, Bill - other memories of that time and day have long since faded. What keeps those July 4th memories alive is a gift Bill gave me that lonely holiday evening. A pencil sketch of a dance-hall gamine, in a saucy pose, flashing a devilish grin.



Untitled Sketch. Artist: Bill Girard. Royal Oak, MI. 1940-2011.

I assume Bonnie (Ed: Girard’s wife) was the source of inspiration. Perhaps Bill was recalling his youth and his courtship with Bonnie, to raise the spirits of a teenager, lying in a hospital bed, who probably thought his chance for love was over. (Ed: Compare this image to Judy in the Stars. The hand on the hip, the bikini bottom and boldly rounded nose also appear in that painting.)

I call her Joan, because she reminds me of the character Joan Blondell played in the late '60's television show, Here Come the Brides. I've moved around the country quite a bit in the last 40 years, shedding a lot of possessions in the process. Joan however, I've always kept with me. Not always displayed, but always close.

On the left side of the image, opposite the “V” created by the crossing of Joan's arms, is Bill's fingerprint, probably his thumb. Bill drew this while entertaining me in recovery and wasn't necessarily being careful where he placed his fingers. It was a whimsical drawing for a kid. I think the imperfection is perfect.




Editor’s notes:

  1.  I received two scanned copies of the image. Perhaps because the image was protected by ant-reflective glass when scanned, the copied images seemed washed out. I used Picassa to enhance the contrast of the image used here. It appears to be dated: 72. The seven appears to have a cross-bar more common in Europe than the US.
  2.  “Joan” wears a form-fitting, sexy dress enhanced by significant cuts-outs and an intricate, winding applique. Girard shaded the area around the belly button and the bikini line. Joan’s left hand, the “active” hand appears to be plucking at the area where the bikini strap sits on her hiked right hip.
  3. Note the extreme care given to the rendering of the eyes and eye lashes.Careful organization of parallel strokes, controlled for line weight, create the illusion of reflected light on the iris of the eyes.

To learn more about that marvelous artist, Bill Girard, peruse my previous blog post, Girard? Girard Who?



-------------------------------------------------------

Master of Mud (aka artist) and former Center for Creative Studies (CCS), Detroit,  professor of art, Bill (William J.) Girard Jr., passed away in 2011. The website created to honor him is at https://girardsvasari.com/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GIRARD? GIRARD WHO?

Image
Master of Mud (aka artist) and former Center for Creative Studies (CCS), Detroit,  professor of art, Bill (William J.) Girard Jr., passed away in 2011. The website created to honor him is found at  https://girardsvasari.com/ Note: Most images are clickable. ------------------------------------------------------- Left to Right: Bill Girard, Father Nicholas Maestrini and collector, Bernice Kent. 1968. Behind  Kent, Girard's painting: Of Rumbling Wooden Wheels Going Through A Dusty Night The burglar  paid no attention at all to our collection of Girard paintings and sculpture. It was very depressing. My naturopath subsequently instructed me to treat this and all life issues with the balm of gratitude. She would surely be pleased to know that the burglary has taught me to be grateful for boors. Happily, at least one of the two investigating police officers could scarcely drag his eyes away from the large Girard painting, Fauvel. This made me feel much
Read more

GIRARD'S DAVID: A SMALL MIRACLE IN TERRA COTTA

Image
  Master of Mud (aka artist) and former Center for Creative Studies (CCS), Detroit,  professor of art, Bill (William J.) Girard Jr., passed away in 2011. The website created to honor him is found at  https://girardsvasari.com/ ------------------------------------------------------- If  you wonder where this is going, think about one of the most famous pieces of sculpture in the western world:  Michelangelo's sculpture,  David .  Actually, that's misleading. That's just where it starts. Maybe. Maybe it starts with Genesis 2:7. “Then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life…”  Loosely translated, this passage is a recipe for terra cotta: Take clay and make something so amazing that it takes on a life of its own. It's a tremendous challenge. Point is, everyone knows about that  David . So if you're a certain type of artist Ambitious Interested in tackling one of the more popular themes in art and biblical hist
Read more

CROWDSOLVE THIS: DECIPHER HOME-MADE HIEROGLYPHICS OF DECEASED ARTIST

Image
  So yeah, it's a little complicated. As a (very?) young man, artist William J. Girard, Junior (aka Bill) developed a penchant for encoding his thoughts in hieroglyphics. Maybe due to the influence of the then famous novel, The Egyptian . At least in part.  Anyway, at one point, Girard's patron. Allen Abramson, requested a key to his hieroglyphics and the young artist obliged. See the key below. But the reason your help is needed is because his cipher kept evolving. The key didn't. Now, with the help of a world-renowned German chemist, Dr. Robert Fuchs, major progress was made in deciphering a complex text by the artist. So that's your Rosetta Stone . But even when you know the language, small changes in handwriting style can encrypt what might otherwise be obvious. Throw in a few new characters as yet unidentified.  Plus some symbols that represent certain sounds, like the CH in cheese . Or the TH in the . Or SH as in shoot . Oh yeah, Girard tended to approach spellin
Read more