Tove Marika Jansson (Finland Swedish:[ˈtuːveˈjɑːnsːon]ⓘ; 9 August 1914 – 27 June 2001) was aFinland-Swedish author, novelist andcomic strip author. She was also a painter andillustrator. Brought up by artistic parents, Jansson studied art from 1930 to 1938 inHelsinki,Stockholm, andParis. She held her first solo art exhibition in 1943. Over the same period, she penned short stories and articles for publication, and subsequently drew illustrations for book covers, advertisements, and postcards. She continued her work as an artist and writer for the rest of her life.
Jansson wrote theMoomin novel series for children, starting with the 1945The Moomins and the Great Flood. The following two books,Comet in Moominland andFinn Family Moomintroll, published in 1946 and 1948 respectively, were highly successful, and sales of the first book increased correspondingly. For her work as a children's author she received theHans Christian Andersen Medal in 1966; among her many later awards was theSelma Lagerlöf Prize in 1992. Her Moomin stories have been adapted for the theatre, the cinema, and as an opera.
She held a solo exhibition of paintings in 1955, and five more between 1960 and 1970. She carried out several commissions formurals in public buildings around Finland between 1945 and 1984. She created the illustrations both for her own books and for classics includingAlice's Adventures in Wonderland andThe Hobbit.
Starting with the semi-autobiographicalBildhuggarens dotter (Sculptor's Daughter) in 1968, Jansson wrote six novels, including the admired[1]Sommarboken (The Summer Book), and five short story collections for adults.
At age 14, Jansson wrote and illustrated her first picture bookSara och Pelle ochnäckensbläckfiskar (Sara and Pelle and Neptune's Children).[2][6] It was not published until 1933. She also sold drawings that were published in magazines in the 1920s.[2]
In the 1930s Jansson made several trips to other European countries. She drew from these for her short stories and articles, which she also illustrated, and which were also published in magazines, periodicals and daily papers. During this period, Jansson also designed many book covers, adverts and postcards. Following her mother's example, she drew illustrations forGarm, a Finnish-Swedish political andsatirical magazine.[2]
Jansson is principally known as the author of the Moomin books. Jansson created theMoomintrolls, a family who are white, round and smooth in appearance, with large snouts that make them vaguely resemblehippopotamuses. She first drew a deliberately ugly creature as a caricature ofImmanuel Kant, the philosopher; a kinder version became the Moomintroll.[7] The first book,The Moomins and the Great Flood, was published 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, soThe 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 (1946) andFinn Family Moomintroll (1948), brought Jansson some fame.[a][7]
The style of the Moomin books changed as time went by. The first books, written starting during the Second World War, up toMoominland Midwinter (1957), are adventure stories that include floods, comets and supernatural events.[8]The Moomins and the Great Flood deals with Moominmamma and Moomintroll's flight through a dark and scary forest, where they encounter various dangers. InComet in Moominland, a comet nearly destroys the Moominvalley. Some critics have considered this anallegory ofnuclear weapons.[9]Finn Family Moomintroll deals with adventures brought on by the discovery of a magician's hat.[7]The Exploits of Moominpappa (1950) tells the story of Moominpappa's adventurous youth and cheerfully parodies thegenre ofmemoir.[10] Finally,Moominsummer Madness (Farlig midsommar, 1955) is set in a theatre: the Moomins explore the empty building and perform Moominpappa'smelodrama.[11]
Moominland Midwinter marks a turning point in the series. Jansson described it as a book about “what it is like when things get difficult”: the story focuses on Moomintroll, who wakes up in the middle of the winter (Moomins hibernate from November to April), and has to cope with the strange and unfriendly world he finds.[12][13] The short story collectionTales from Moominvalley (1962) and the novelsMoominpappa at Sea (1965) andMoominvalley in November (1970) are serious and psychologically searching books, far removed from the light-heartedness and cheerful humor ofFinn Family Moomintroll.[13]Moominvalley in November, in which the Moomin family themselves never appear, is especially sombre in tone, possibly in consequence of the death of Jansson's mother during the year that it was written. Because of this, it has been described as being a "textbook on letting go, being a mature orphan, existing spiritually alone".[2] Following this book, Jansson stated that she "couldn't go back and find that happy Moominvalley again" and so decided to stop writing the Moomin books.[14]
Jansson in 1956 with Moomintroll dolls made byAtelier Fauni
Critics have interpreted various Moomin characters as being inspired by real people, especially members of the author's family and close friends, and Jansson spoke in interviews about the backgrounds of, and possible models for, her characters.[2] The personality of Tuulikki Pietilä, Jansson's partner, inspired the character Too-Ticky inMoominland Midwinter,[5][2] while Moomintroll andLittle My have been seen as psychologicalself-portraits of the artist.[5][2] The Moomins relate strongly to Jansson's own family – they werebohemian and lived close to nature. Jansson remained close to her mother until her mother's death in 1970; even after Tove had become an adult, the two often traveled together, and during her final years Signe lived with Tove part-time.[2] Moominpappa and Moominmamma are often seen as portraits of Jansson's parents.[5][2]
Jansson's first foray outside children's literature wasBildhuggarens dotter (Sculptor's Daughter), a semi-autobiographical novel published in 1968. She went on to write five more novels for adults, includingSommarboken (The Summer Book) and five collections of short stories.The Summer Book is the best known of her adult fiction; it describes the summer stay on an island of a young girl and her grandmother. The girl is modeled on her niece,Sophia Jansson; the girl's father on Sophia's father, Lars Jansson; and the grandmother on Tove's mother Signe.[1]The Summer Book was adapted into a2024 film of the same name, starringGlenn Close as the grandmother.[19] Most of her novels for adults were republished into English by the publisher NYRB classics, starting with “The Summer Book,” published on May 20, 2008. Since then, her novels “The True Deceiver,” “Fair Play,” and “Sun City,” along with her short story collection, “The Woman who Borrowed Memories,” have all been published and printed in English by NYRB.
Cover ofGarm magazine, October 1944, lampooningAdolf Hitler as "self-important and comic"[20]
Tove Jansson worked as an illustrator and cartoonist for the Swedish-languagesatirical magazineGarm from 1929 to 1953, when the magazine ceased production.[21] One of herpolitical cartoons achieved a brief international fame: she drewAdolf Hitler as a crying baby in diapers, surrounded byNeville Chamberlain and other great European leaders, who tried to calm the baby down by giving it slices of cake –Austria,Poland,Czechoslovakia, etc. In theSecond World War, during whichFinland fought against the Soviet Union, part of the time cooperating with Nazi Germany,[22] her cover illustrations forGarm lampooned both Hitler andJoseph Stalin: in one, Stalin draws his sword from his impressively longscabbard, only to find it absurdly short; in another, multiple Hitlers ransack a house, carrying away food and artworks. InThe Spectator's view, Jansson made both "Hitler and Stalin appear as preposterous little figures, self-important and comic".[20]
Her earliest comic strips were created for productions includingLunkentus (Prickinas och Fabians äventyr, 1929),Vårbrodd (Fotbollen som Flög till Himlen', 1930), andAllas Krönika (Palle och Göran gå till sjöss, 1933).[23]
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,[2] 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 aboutImmanuel 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 bookThe Moomins and the Great Flood (originallySmåtrollen och den stora översvämningen), the Immanuel-Kant-Moomin is still perceptible. The nameMoomin 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.[2]
In 1952, afterComet in Moominland andFinn Family Moomintroll had been translated into English, a British newspaper man, Charles Sutton, asked if Tove Jansson would be interested in drawing comic strips about the Moomins.[24] Jansson accepted the offer.[24] The comic stripMoomintroll started in the LondonEvening News, which had a circulation of 12 million at that time, making it the world's largest daily newspaper.[24] The strip spread to hundreds of other newspapers in 12 countries.[24]
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 throughout her life. She exhibited during the 1930s and early 1940s, holding her first solo exhibition in 1943. Despite generally positive reviews, criticism induced Jansson to refine her style; her 1955 solo exhibition was simpler in detail and content. Between 1960 and 1970 she held five more solo exhibitions. The National Biography of Finland describes Jansson as going "against the conventional image of an artist with her unusually even balance between visual art and writing."[2][25]
Throughout her career, Jansson created a series of commissionedmurals and public works which may still be viewed in their original locations, including:
Detail of Jansson's drawing ofSmaug destroyingLake-town, a scene from a 1962 edition ofThe Hobbit. Her work helped to define howfantasy could be illustrated,[26] but has been seen as unfashionably "expressive".[27][28]
She created a set of illustrations for the 1962 Swedish edition ofJ. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 children's bookThe Hobbit.[28] The scholar of literature Björn Sundmark states that Jansson's work helped to define how Tolkien'sMiddle-earth fantasy could be depicted visually.[26] The edition with her illustrations was not reprinted for many years,[c] even though reviewers and "Tolkienists" liked Jansson's "expressive"[27] images. Sundmark suggests that the reason was that in the 1960s, a new, more realistic style became the norm for fantasy art.[27]
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 ofComet in Moominland, titledMumintrollet och kometen, performed atÅbo Svenska Teater.[2][5] In the early 1950s, Jansson collaborated on Moomin-themed children's plays withVivica Bandler. In 1952, Jansson designed stage settings and dresses forPessi and Illusia, a ballet byAhti Sonninen (Radio tekee murron) which was performed at theFinnish National Opera.[2] By 1958, Jansson began to become directly involved in theater as Lilla Teater producedTroll i kulisserna (Troll in thewings), a play with lyrics by Jansson and music composed byErna Tauro.[5] The production was a success, despite the actors' difficulties speaking through their bulbous "Moominsnouts",[24] and later performances were held in Sweden and Norway.[5]
In 1974 the first Moomin opera was produced, with music composed byIlkka Kuusisto.[5] Other stage adaptations include the playHemulen som älskade tystnad (1974–75). Her work was also adapted into several television dramas in the 1970s, includingMumintrollen (1969),Orm i salongen (1974),Fönstret (1976),Kvinnan som lånade minnen (1977), andFilifjonkan som trodde på katastrofer (1978).[29]
The Moomintrolls have been adapted to media including television animations[2] such as the1990 Moomin series,[30] and feature films.[31]
Tuulikki Pietilä, Tove Jansson and her motherSigne at Klovharu, the island in thePorvoo archipelago where the Janssons had a summer house, 1958
Jansson had several male lovers, including the political philosopherAtos Wirtanen, and briefly became engaged to him.[2] He was the inspiration for the Moomin characterSnufkin.[32] However, she eventually "went over to the spook side" as she is said to have put it —a coded expression forhomosexuality[33][34][35]—and developed a secret love affair with the married theater directorVivica Bandler.[32]
In 1956 Jansson met her lifelong partner,Tuulikki Pietilä, known as "Tooti". In Helsinki they lived apart but nearby, so they could meet unnoticed, but this did not resolve the problem that Jansson's mother often came to stay.[36][37][d] They found a partial solution by building a house on a small island in the Gulf of Finland, and staying there for the summer.[36] Jansson's and Pietilä's travels and summers spent together on the Klovharu island inPellinki have been captured on several hours of film, shot by Pietilä. Several documentaries have been made of this footage, the latest beingHaru, yksinäinen saari (Haru, the lonely island) (1998)[38] andTove ja Tooti Euroopassa (Tove and Tooti in Europe) (2004).[39] The character Too-ticky, described bySue Prideaux as "a wild-haired artistic troll in a Breton sweater and a beret",[24] was inspired by Pietilä.[24]
In 1968, Swedish public TV,SVT, made a documentary about Tove calledMoomins and the Sea (39 min.).[42] Jansson's books, originally written in Swedish, have been translated into 45 languages.[43] TheMoomin Museum inTampere displays much of Jansson's work on the Moomins.[44] There is a Moomin theme park namedMoomin World inNaantali. In 2012, the BBC broadcast a one-hour documentary on Jansson,Moominland Tales: The Life of Tove Jansson.[45] A Moominvalley Park opened atHannō, Japan in 2019.[46]
In March 2014, theAteneum 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.[47] After Helsinki the exhibition embarked on a tour in Japan to visit five Japanese museums.[48][49]
In January 2016, a permanent Tove Jansson exhibition of murals, an oil painting, photographs and sketches opened at theHelsinki Art Museum. The two murals,Party in the Countryside andParty in the City were created forHelsinki City Hall'sKaupunginkellari restaurant.[50] From June 2017 to September 2017, an exhibition of Jansson's paintings, illustrations, and cartoons was held in Kunstforeningen Gammel Strand inCopenhagen in collaboration withAteneum inHelsinki.[51] The exhibition then moved from October 2017 to January 2018 to theDulwich Picture Gallery inLondon.[52] This was the first major retrospective exhibition of her work in the United Kingdom.[41]
Jansson was selected as the main motif in the 2004 minting of a Finnish commemorative coin, the €10Tove Jansson and Finnish Children's Culture commemorative coin. Theobverse depicts a combination of her portrait and the skyline, an artist's palette, a crescent and a sailing boat. The reverse features three Moomin characters. In 2014 she was again featured on a commemorative coin, this time of €20, becoming the only person other than the former Finnish presidentUrho Kekkonen to be granted two such coins.[54] She was featured on a€2 commemorative coin that entered general circulation in June 2014.[55] Since 1988,Finland's Post has released several postage stamp sets and onepostal card with Moomin motifs.[56] In 2014, Jansson was featured on a Finnish stamp set.[57] In 2014 the City of Helsinki honored Jansson by renaming a park near her childhood home inKatajanokka "Tove Jansson's Park" (Finnish:Tove Janssonin puisto,Swedish:Tove Janssons park).[58][59] The city has placed a memorial plaque to Jansson at her home in Ullanlinnankatu, Helsinki.[60]
When an animated series,Moominvalley was broadcast in 2019,[61] the journalistRhianna Pratchett wrote an article about the impact Jansson had had on her father, the fantasy authorTerry Pratchett; he called Jansson one of the greatest children's writers ever, and credited her writing as one of the reasons he became an author.[62]
Dockskåpet och andra berättelser (1978, lit. "The Doll's House and Other Stories", translated asArt in Nature)
Resa med lätt bagage (1987,Travelling Light)
Brev från Klara och andra berättelser (1991,Letters from Klara and Other Stories)
Meddelande. Noveller i urval 1971–1997 (1998 compilation,Messages: Selected Stories 1971–1997)
A Winter Book (Sort of Books, 2006). Selected and introduced byAli Smith, fromSculptor's Daughter,Messages,The Listener,Letters from Klara, andTraveling Light.
The Woman Who Borrowed Memories (New York Review Books, 2014). Selections fromThe Listener,The Doll's House,Traveling Light,Letters from Klara, andMessages. Translated by Thomas Teal and Silvester Mazzarella.
^The original title ofFinn Family Moomintroll,Trollkarlens Hatt, which would more literally beThe Magician's Hat in English.
^The first edition (1946) ofComet in Moominland echoed the threat to Finland of a Soviet takeover at that time. The 1956 and 1968 editions were edited as the threats changed. By 1968, that was nuclear war.[16]
^It was eventually reprinted in 1994 in the same 24 cm format by Rabén Prisma,ISBN978-9-15182-727-8.
^abcdefghijk"Tove Jansson".Tovejansson.com. Retrieved5 December 2023.Läroverket för gossar och flickor (an educational institution for boys and girls), also known as Brobergska samskolan, Helsinki 1923–1930
^abScott, Izabella (May 2018)."The Party"(PDF).So It Goes (11).
^Heti, Seila (30 March 2020)."Inside Tove Jansson's Private Universe".The New Yorker.In 1956, [Jansson] metTuulikki Pietilä ("Tooti"), a prolific graphic artist and engraver. They would remain partners for forty-five years, until Jansson's death. But, as Westin and Svensson put it, "anyone who lived with Tove Jansson also had to live with her family". Her mother, nicknamed Ham, stayed with Jansson on and off. Even as a teenager, preparing to go away to school, Jansson had worried about her mother. In a letter from 1961, she describes the stress of managing both Tooti and Ham in their "all-female household." She felt that it had become impossible to please one without displeasing the other, and during a time of intense strife she wrote to a friend, "Sometimes I think I hate them both and it makes me feel ill".
