Art et décoration  Art et décoration n°331 de Février 1995 et n°382 d'Avril 2001. A gentle relief effect for “Ivy” by Mucha, reworked by Michel Girard   “The Painting” by Mucha, harbours subtle colours made with flame   The first step is essential, this means drawing the motif to be reproduced   In Amiens Steel Paintings Michel Girard “paints” with gas; his favourite medium is… steel, which he fashions with a chipping chisel and colours with flame! He is fascinated by Art Nouveau, inspired by Klimt and Mucha.   Michel Girard’s workshop in Amiens is probably no bigger than 35m², but these four walls witness the birth of very curious paintings. A former student of the Boulle School in Paris, and after an engineer, he has always had a love of the “easy years” of the Art Nouveau period that flowed through our century for about thirty years. He is most inspired by Klimt and Mucha. “I like their lines, colours and sensual sense of aesthetics, that are slightly kitsch, used to represent women.”   “I had a good knowledge of sheet steel, and with encouragement from my wife and children, I took unpaid leave from my job in 1989 and made a complete career change…” states Michel.   He hasn’t stopped since then. His technique could not be more simple… after drawing the motif he aims to represent onto 8/10 sheet steel using very fine chipping chisels, he goes over the lines with quick smart taps. The next step is carried out almost “blindly”. “I work on both sides of the painting, giving a relief effect with bumps and hollows, making it come alive”. Everything seems normal up to this point.    Art et décoration The artist “burns” his sheets of metal to colour them on his gas oven   After burning, Michel Girard tones the shades with a grinding wheel   Klimt would find all the finesse of his lines in “The Kiss,” reworked by Michel Girard       You would already have to know how to work metal on the right and wrong sides, keeping to the correct bumps and hollows, not an easy task in itself! But it becomes really difficult when the artist begins to colour his metal sheets using the heat… from his gas oven, blowtorches being too aggressive, and where chemicals and enamels play no part. “You need to heat over a wide area so the shades are uniform, so the “dove-coloured” blue shows up, and all the shades of purple, red, orange and yellow. To limit these tones to very precise areas, I sand using different grades of sandpaper or I grind to get the iridescence in all the colour nuances I want in the various shades.” This is an original technique that is rarely seen. His unusual, multifaceted and “shimmering” paintings, such as the interpretations of “The Kiss” by Gustave Klimt, or the “Friends” and “The Painting” by Alfons Mucha, have won several prizes when presented in art exhibitions. Michel Girard has orders for the year, especially as he needs two to four weeks to finish a work. And make no mistake, he is able to remake almost exactly the same pièce “with only a few differences…” he adds. You would have to pay between 4,000 and 14,000 euros, according to the size of the painting and the time the artist has taken over it. Michel Girard’s talent is recognised throughout France. Two art galleries have got it right and permanently exhibit his works, not counting the temporary exhibitions organised each year.   Text and photos by Georges Carlier    Art et décoration The Painter of Steel   Michel Girard is one of the few painters on metal in France. By heating steel, he creates wonderfully surprising paintings that seem to be in constant movement.   1. A work in homage to Mucha, “Winter”   2. Michel Girard, aged 63, has worked with steel all his life, before sublimating it using his talent   3. Work that is full of finesse, as for this “Branche à l’Oiseau” (Bird Branch). The subtlety of shading is impressive and requires extreme precision   4. The animal motifs, such as this “Chinoiserie aux Oiseaux” (Bird Chinoiserie) take on another dimension thanks to Michel’s artistic talent   5. This “Poissons sur Fond Bleu” (Fish on a Blue Background) seems to move in the water according to the light and angle of vision   He made his name by making reproductions the Art Nouveau works of Alphonse Mucha, using a fundamentally original technique. Michel Girard, aged 63, sculpts on steel, but not only that… he “colours” his motifs by heating the metal. His palette varies from yellow to blue (which takes the longest time to reach). The result has surprised people over the last years; even if the technique of repoussé-work on steel has always existed, no-one has ever thought to colour it simply by heating it. The preparation is very complex: Michel obtains one colour after another, by successive heating sessions. There is no going back.   His research on the works of Alphonse Mucha has enabled him to confirm his approach and refine his technique. The motifs, very subtle and finely-worked, easily lend themselves to the desire for precision and great finesse that inspires Michel Girard.   A true painter of metal, the engineer formerly worked in a metallurgy design department, but has today changed his way of working. He uses the appliqué technique and devotes his time to more personal subjects. Deserted landscapes, animals and even Venice have been glorified in his art. Some of his works are very lifelike; according to the light and the angle from which the “Poissons sur Fond Bleu” is looked at, the fish change shade and seem to move graciously with the ebb and flow of the water.   Thierry Bruncan Photos by Patrick Smith

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