Tove Marika Jansson was a Swedish-speaking Finnish novelist,
painter, illustrator and comic strip author. For her contribution as a
children's writer she received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1966.
Brought up by artistic parents, Jansson studied art from 1930 to 1938 in
Stockholm, Helsinki and then Paris. Her first solo art exhibition was in 1943.
At the same time, she was writing short stories and articles for publication, as
well as creating the graphics for book covers and other purposes. She continued
to work as an artist for the rest of her life, alongside her writing.
Jansson is best known as the author of the Moomin books for children. The first
such book, The Moomins and the Great Flood, appeared in 1945, though it was
the next two books, Comet in Moominland and Finn Family Moomintroll, published
in 1946 and 1948 respectively, that brought her fame.
Starting with the semi-autobiographical Bildhuggarens dotter in 1968, she wrote
six novels and five books of short stories for adults.
Biography Tove Jansson was born in Helsinki, Grand
Duchy of Finland. Her family, part of the Swedish-speaking minority of
Finland, was an artistic one: her father Viktor Jansson was a sculptor and her
mother Signe Hammarsten-Jansson was a graphic designer and illustrator. Tove's
siblings also became artists: Per Olov Jansson became a photographer and Lars
Jansson an author and cartoonist. Whilst their home was in Helsinki, the family
spent many of their summers in a rented cottage on an island near Porvoo, 50 km
east of Helsinki. Jansson studied at University College of
Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm in 1930–33, the Graphic School of the
Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 1933–1937 and finally at L'École
d'Adrien Holy and L'École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1938. She displayed a number
of artworks in exhibitions during the 30s and early 40s, and her first solo
exhibition was held in 1943. Aged 14, she wrote and illustrated her
first picture book "Sara och Pelle och näckens bläckfiskar" although it was not
published until 1933, and had drawings published in magazines in the 1920s.
During the 1930s she made several trips to other European countries, and wrote
and illustrated short stories and articles which were also published in
magazines, periodicals and daily papers. During this period, Jansson designed
many book covers, adverts and postcards, and, following her mother, she drew
illustrations for Garm, an anti-fascist Finnish-Swedish satirical magazine.
Briefly engaged in the 1940s to Atos Wirtanen, she later during her studies
met her future partner Tuulikki Pietilä. The two women collaborated on many works
and projects, including a model of the Moominhouse, in collaboration with
Pentti Eistola. This is now exhibited at the Moomin museum in Tampere.
Jansson wrote and illustrated her first Moomin book, The Moomins and the Great
Flood, in 1945, during World War II. She said later that the war had depressed
her and she had wanted to write something naïve and innocent. This first
book was hardly noticed, but the next Moomin books, Comet in Moominland and
Finn Family Moomintroll, made her famous. She went on to write six more
Moomin books, a number of picture books and comic strips. Her fame spread
quickly and she became Finland's most widely read author abroad. For her
"lasting contribution to children's literature" she received the biennial,
international Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing in 1966.
Jansson continued painting and writing for the rest of her life, although her
contributions to the Moomin series became rare after 1970. Her first foray
outside children's literature was Bildhuggarens dotter, a
semi-autobiographical book written in 1968. After that, she authored five more
novels, including Sommarboken and five collections of short stories. Although
she had a studio in Helsinki, she lived many summers on a small island called
Klovharu, one of the Pellinki Islands near the town of Porvoo. Jansson's and
Pietilä's travels and summers spent together on the Klovharu island in
Pellinki have been captured on several hours of film, shot by Pietilä. Several
documentaries have been made of this footage, the latest being Haru,
yksinäinen saari and Tove ja Tooti Euroopassa.
Jansson died on 27 June 2001. She was 86 years old.
Career = Comic strip artist =
Tove Jansson worked as illustrator and cartoonist for the Swedish-language
satirical magazine Garm from the 1930s to 1953. One of her political cartoons
achieved a brief international fame: she drew Adolf Hitler as a crying baby in
diapers, surrounded by Neville Chamberlain and other great European
leaders, who tried to calm the baby down by giving it slices of cake – Austria,
Poland, Czechoslovakia, etc. Jansson also produced illustrations during this
period for the Christmas magazines Julen and Lucifer as well as several smaller
productions. Her earliest comic strips were produced for productions including
Lunkentus, Vårbrodd, and Allas Krönika. The figure of the Moomintroll appeared
first in Jansson's political cartoons, where it was used as a signature
character near the artist's name. This "Proto-Moomin," then called Snork or
Niisku, was thin and ugly, with a long, narrow nose and devilish tail. Jansson
said that she had designed the Moomins in her youth: after she lost a
philosophical quarrel about Immanuel Kant with one of her brothers, she drew
"the ugliest creature imaginable" on the wall of their outhouse and wrote under
it "Kant". This Moomin later gained weight and a more pleasant appearance,
but in the first Moomin book The Moomins and the Great Flood, the
Immanuel-Kant-Moomin is still perceptible. The name "Moomin" comes
from Tove Jansson's uncle, Einar Hammarsten: when she was studying in
Stockholm and living with her Swedish relatives, her uncle tried to stop her
pilfering food by telling her that a "Moomintroll" lived in the kitchen
closet and breathed cold air down people's necks.
In 1952, after Comet in Moominland and Finn Family Moomintroll had been
translated into English, a British publisher asked if Tove Jansson would be
interested in drawing comic strips about the Moomins. Jansson had already drawn a
long Moomin comic adventure, Mumintrollet och jordens undergång,
based loosely on Comet in Moominland, for the Swedish-language newspaper Ny
Tid, and she accepted the offer. The comic strip Moomintroll, started in 1954
in the Evening News, a newspaper for the London area and London commuters. Tove
Jansson drew 21 long Moomin stories from 1954 to 1959, writing them at first by
herself and then with her brother Lars Jansson. She eventually gave the strip
up because the daily work of a comic artist did not leave her time to write
books and paint, but Lars took over the strip and continued it until 1975.
The series was published in book form in Swedish, and books 1 to 6 have been
published in English, Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip.
= Inspiration for Moomins = Critics have interpreted various Moomin
characters as being inspired by real people, especially members of the
author's family, and Jansson spoke in interviews about the backgrounds of, and
possible models for, her characters. Pietilä's personality inspired the
character Too-Ticky in Moominland Midwinter. and Moomintroll and Little My
have been seen as psychological self-portraits of the artist.
The Moomins, generally speaking, relate strongly to Jansson's own family – they
were bohemian, lived close to nature and were very tolerant towards diversity.
Moominpappa and Moominmamma are often seen as portraits of Jansson's parents.
Jansson remained close to her mother until her mother's death in 1970; even
after Tove had become an adult, the two often travelled together, and during her
final years Signe also lived with Tove part-time.
= Author = Jansson is principally known as the
author of the Moomin books. Jansson created the Moomins, a family of trolls
who are white, round and smooth in appearance, with large snouts that make
them vaguely resemble hippopotamuses. The first Moomin book, The Moomins and
the Great Flood, was written in 1945. Although the primary characters are
Moominmamma and Moomintroll, most of the principal characters of later stories
were only introduced in the next book, so The Moomins and the Great Flood is
frequently considered a forerunner to the main series. The book was not a
success, but the next two installments in the Moomin series, Comet in
Moominland and Finn Family Moomintroll, brought Jansson some fame. The original
title of Finn Family Moomintroll, Trollkarlens Hatt, translates as "The
Magician's Hat". The style of the Moomin books changed as
time went by. The first books, up to Moominland Midwinter, are adventure
stories that include floods, comets and supernatural events. The Moomins and the
Great Flood deals with Moominmamma and Moomintroll's flight through a dark and
scary forest, where they encounter various dangers. In Comet in Moominland,
a comet nearly destroys the Moominvalley. Finn Family Moomintroll
deals with adventures brought on by the discovery of a magician's hat. The
Exploits of Moominpappa tells the story of Moominpappa's adventurous youth and
cheerfully parodies the genre of memoirs. Finally, Moominsummer Madness
pokes fun at the world of the theatre: the Moomins explore an empty theatre and
perform Moominpappa's pompous hexametric melodrama.
Moominland Midwinter marks a turning point in the series. The books take on
more realistic settings and the characters start to acquire some
psychological depth. Moominland Midwinter focuses on Moomintroll, who
wakes up in the middle of the winter, and has to cope with the strange and
unfriendly world he finds. The short story collection Tales from Moominvalley
and the novels Moominpappa at Sea and Moominvalley in November are serious and
psychologically searching books, far removed from the light-heartedness and
cheerful humor of Finn Family Moomintroll.
After Moominvalley in November Tove Jansson stopped writing about Moomins
and started writing for adults. The Summer Book is the best known of her
adult fiction translated into English. It is a work of charm, subtlety and
simplicity, describing the summer stay on an island of a young girl and her
grandmother. In addition to the Moomin novels and
short stories, Tove Jansson also wrote and illustrated four original and highly
popular picture books: The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My, Who will
Comfort Toffle?, The Dangerous Journey and An Unwanted Guest. As the Moomins'
fame grew, two of the original novels, Comet in Moominland and The Exploits of
Moominpappa, were revised by Jansson and republished. The revised versions were,
however, never translated into English. = Painter and illustrator =
Although she became known first and foremost as an author, Tove Jansson
considered her careers as author and painter to be of equal importance. She
painted her whole life, changing style from the classical impressionism of her
youth to the highly abstract modernist style of her later years. Jansson
displayed a number of artworks in exhibitions during the 1930s and early
1940s, and her first solo exhibition was held in 1943. Despite generally positive
reviews, criticism induced Jansson to refine her style such that in her 1955
solo exhibition her style had become less overloaded in terms of detail and
content. Between 1960 and 1970 Jansson held five more solo exhibitions.
Jansson also created a series of commissioned murals and public works
throughout her career, which may still be viewed in their original locations.
These works of Jansson's included: The canteen at the Strömberg factory at
Pitäjänmäki, Helsinki The Aurora Children's Hospital in
Helsinki The Kaupunginkellari restaurant of
Helsinki City Hall – Transferred in 1974 to Helsinki Swedish-language Adult
Education Centre "Workers' Institute" Arbis.
The Seurahuone hotel at Hamina The Wise and Foolish Virgins altarpiece
in Teuva Church A number of fairy-tale murals in schools
and kindergartens including the kindergarten in Pori
In addition to providing the illustrations for her own Moomin books,
Jansson also illustrated Swedish translations of classics such as J. R.
R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark and
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She also illustrated her late work, The
Summer Book. = Theatre =
Several stage productions have been made from Jansson's Moomin series, including
a number that Jansson herself was involved in.
The earliest production was a 1949 theatrical version of Comet in
Moominland performed at Åbo Svenska Teater.
In the early 1950s, Jansson collaborated on Moomin-themed children's plays with
Vivica Bandler. In 1952, Jansson designed stage settings and dresses for
Pessi and Illusia, a ballet by Ahti Sonninen which was performed at the
Finnish National Opera. By 1958, Jansson began to become directly involved in
theater as Lilla Teater produced Troll i kulisserna, a play with lyrics by
Jansson and music composed by Erna Tauro. The production was a success, and
later performances were held in Sweden and Norway.
In 1974 the first Moomin opera was produced, with music composed by Ilkka
Kuusisto. Jansson's cultural legacy
The biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award conferred by the International
Board on Books for Young People is the highest recognition available to a
writer or illustrator of children's books. Jansson received the writing
award in 1966. Jansson's books, originally written in
Swedish, have been translated into 45 languages. After the Kalevala and books
by Mika Waltari, they are the most widely translated works of Finnish
literature. The Moomin Museum in Tampere displays
much of Jansson's work on the Moomins. There is also a Moomin theme park named
Moomin World in Naantali. Tove Jansson was selected as the main
motif in the 2004 minting of a Finnish commemorative coin, the €10 Tove Jansson
and Finnish Children's Culture commemorative coin. The obverse depicts
a combination of Tove Jansson portrait with several objects: the skyline, an
artist's palette, a crescent and a sailing boat. The reverse design
features three Moomin characters. In 2014 she was again featured on a
commemorative coin, minted at €10 and €20 values, being the only person other
than the former Finnish president Urho Kekkonen to be granted two such coins.
She was also featured on a €2 commemorative coin that entered general
circulation in June 2014. Since 1988, Finland's Post has released
several postage stamp sets and one postal card with Moomin motifs. In 2014,
Jansson herself was featured on a Finnish stamp set.
In 2014 the City of Helsinki honored Jansson by renaming a park in
Katajanokka as Tove Jansson's Park. The park is located near Jansson's childhood
home. In March 2014 the Ateneum Art Museum
opened a major centenary exhibition showcasing Jansson's works as an artist,
an illustrator, a political caricaturist and the creator of the Moomins. The
exhibition drew nearly 300,000 visitors in six months. After Helsinki the
exhibition embarked on a tour in Japan to visit five Japanese museums.
Works = The Moomin books =
Novels Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen
Kometjakten Kometen kommer
Trollkarlens hatt Muminpappans bravader
Muminpappans memoarer Farlig midsommar
Trollvinter Pappan och havet
Sent i November Short story collections
Det osynliga barnet och andra berättelser
Picture books Hur gick det sen?,
Vem ska trösta Knyttet? Den farliga resan
Skurken i Muminhuset Visor från Mumindalen
Comic strips Mumin, Books 1–7.
= Other books = Novels
Sommarboken Solstaden
Den ärliga bedragaren Stenåkern
Anteckningar från en ö Short story collections
Bildhuggarens dotter Lyssnerskan
Dockskåpet och andra berättelser Resa med lätt bagage
Rent spel Brev från Klara och andra berättelser
Meddelande. Noveller i urval 1971–1997 Picture books
Sara och Pelle och näckens bläckfiskar Awards
Hans Christian Andersen Award Award for State Literature
Order of the Smile Pro Finlandia Medal
Swedish Culture Foundation Honorary Award
The Finnish Cultural Award Selma Lagerlöf Prize
The Finland Art Prize Mercuri International pronssiomena
The Swedish Academy Award The American-Scandinavian Foundation
Honorary Cultural Award WSOY Literary Foundation Award
Le Prix de l'Office Chrétien du Livre See also
References External links
Tove Jansson at www.moomin.com Tove Jansson at Schildts
Tove Jansson and the altarpiece "Ten Virgins"
Tove Jansson at WSOY thisisFINLAND: People – Tove Jansson:
writer, painter and illustrator The Moomin Trove Comprehensive lists of
Tove Jansson's Moomin books Tove Jansson and The Moomin Trove by
Finland Travel Club Moominland Tales: The Life of Tove
Jansson by Eleanor Yule