The Serious Artist Behind A Children's Classic

BBC - Culture - The serious artist behind a childrens classic 2/6/17, 5:46 AM
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Everyone knows the Moomins but how many
know of the brave life and challenging
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paintings of their creator, Tove Jansson? Cath
Pound finds out more.
. . .
Britain
. . . !
Alice in
Wonderlands
hidden messages
By Cath Pound
14 December 2016 Is Lewis Carrolls tale really about
sex, drugs and colonialism?
Tove Jansson is known and loved around Britain Literature
the world as the creator of the rotund

Popular culture
childrens characters, the Moomins.
However she always considered herself
first and foremost a painter and the fact
that this side of her work was often ignored
caused her great frustration and sadness.
Adventures in Moominland at the
Southbank Centre in London and another Britain
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20161214-the-serious-artist-behind-a-childrens-classic Page 1 of 13
exhibition of her art, currently in Stockholm The dark side of

and arriving at the Dulwich Picture Roald Dahl
Gallery next year, allow us to see both Why children love the authors
macabre world
sides of her extensive oeuvre. Although
vastly different in approach, both Britain Books
exhibitions emphasise the tolerance which

Literature
imbues her work and which derives from
the courageous way she chose to live her
life, refusing to submit to the restrictive
norms of contemporary Finnish society.

Between the Lines
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childrens books
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Tove Janssons self-portrait from 1975 gives an Follow BBC

unvarnished view of the artist at the end of her life
(Credit: Finnish National Gallery / Yehia Eweis) Culture
The daughter of Finnish sculptor Viktor

Jansson and his Swedish artist wife Signe
Hammarsten-Jansson, known as Ham,
Tove Jansson grew up in an environment
where art, work and life were inseparable. Facebook
By the age of 14 her work was already
appearing in print and she soon followed
her mother to the satirical magazine Garm.
At art school, where her early work had a
mystical, fairytale quality to it, she was

considered a bright and promising Twitter
student. The self-portraits she painted in
the 1930s and 40s reveal her
development as an artist and, thinks art
historian Tuula Karjalainen, are among her
Cultural
strongest works. Calendar
"
The war years were
traumatic for Jansson Best of Culture
If World War but also provided a
Two had ended great stimulus to
create. She had been
differently, the
mocking Hitler in the
consequences
pages of Garm since as
for Jansson early 1935 but the war
would have heightened her satirical
The 100 greatest films of the
21st Century
been fatal bite. Her cartoons
reveal a pathetic and
The 21st Centurys
100 greatest films
ridiculous clown behind
The best in cinema since 2000 as
the monster who threatened Europe. As picked by 177 film critics
Finland had entered into an alliance with
The 100 greatest films of
Germany in 1940, her work caused the 21st Century
consternation among the authorities and
the magazine came perilously close to
being charged with insulting the head of a
friendly state. Her courage in challenging
public opinion cannot be underestimated.
If the war had ended differently the
consequences for her would have been
fatal. Art history
Are these waxworks

Finnish lines disgusting?

When Venus was dissected
It was the horrors of that time that also
Art history
served as inspiration for the first Moomin
books. She had to create alternatives to
the world she was living in, says Jansson
biographer Boel Westin. Not that this
alternative was any less bleak. The
Moomins and The Great Flood contains

images of refugees searching for their
relatives while Comet in Moominland, Concrete Ideas
completed just after the bombings of
The 10 most
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, sees the
beautiful ceilings
residents of Moominvalley facing possible
Mosques, temples and a golf
annihilation from a comet hurtling towards club
earth. Her characters are granted happy Architecture
endings but all the same, theyre quite
exceptional for childrens books at that
time, says Westin.
"
The end of war brought
joy in many forms, not
At last I feel that least that of the theatre
in love I can director Vivica Bandler,
with whom Jansson fell
experience
madly in love. To
myself as a
discover that she was
woman Tove attracted to women was
Jansson something of a surprise
to Jansson but she
confided to friends that,
at last I feel that in love I can experience
myself as a woman. Unable to be as open

as she would have liked about the affair
homosexuality was illegal in Finland at the
time and not decriminalised until 1971
Joansson instead included herself and her
lover in the third of the Moomin books,
Finn Family Moomintroll, as Thingumy and
Bob.
The characters Snorkmaiden, Sniff and Snufkin are

all close friends of the Moomin family and appear in
several of Janssons books (Credit: Moomin
Characters)
These two characters arrive in

Moominvalley speaking a strange
language that no one else can understand
and carrying a suitcase containing a
magnificent ruby which they have stolen
from the evil Groke. Westin sees the ruby
as a metaphor for their love: the most
important thing is for them to open their
suitcase and reveal its contents to
Moominvalley.
Jansson went on to depict her lover in one

of the monumental murals she painted for
Helsinki Town Hall. Vivica, easily
recognisable to their immediate circle,
stands resplendent in its centre, dressed in
a stunning evening gown. Jansson herself
sits in the foreground, a Moomin at her
elbow, staring defiantly out at the viewer.
Like Thingumy and Bob she is displaying
their love for all the world to see.
A series of monumental murals by Jansson

decorated the dining hall of Helsinkis Town Hall
(Credit: Tove Jansson's estate / HAM / Hanna
Kukorelli)
Ultimately the affair was to prove short

lived but the couple remained lifelong
friends.
Joy is further evident in The Book About

Moomin, Mymble and Little My. A riot of
colour, shape and form, it is heavily
influenced by Matisse and a work of art in
its own right. Both Mymble and Little My

are the offspring of the older Mymble, a
gloriously polyamorous character who lives
for pleasure and to procreate. Her name
derives from the Swedish slang mymla,
meaning to make love, and Janssons
circle delightfully used mymble to refer to
a lover of either sex.
Personal story
Moominmania really began to take off in

the 1950s, thanks in large part to the
comic strips produced for Londons
Evening News, which were distributed
worldwide. Their popularity was to prove a
double-edged sword, however. They
provided a much needed regular income,
but the demands of producing a weekly
strip meant that Janssons time for painting
was severely restricted.
It was a situation that could not continue

and at the end of the 1950s Jansson said
goodbye to the comic strips. The strength
to make such a life-changing decision
came from her new partner Tuulikki Pietil,
known as Tuuti, immortalised as Too-Ticky
in Moominland Midwinter, a book which
Paul Denton, a producer at the Londons
Southbank Centre where Janssons works
are currently on show, sees as their
personal love story. Moomin wakes up in

winter while the rest of the family are
hibernating. Initially afraid, he meets Too-
ticky who teaches him how to live in this
new environment and its much the same
as Tuuti did with Jansson, teaching her a
new way to live and love, he says.
In Janssons Abstract Sea from1963, the choppy

waters of the Baltic and the sky above dissolve into
a swirling form (Credit: Finnish National Gallery /
Hannu Aaltonen)
In 1959 Jansson, painted another self-

portrait. She called it Beginner. Her
expression is calm and determined, her
gaze directed at the easel. It is signed
Jansson in a bid to separate her from the
Tove of Moomin fame. Belatedly she tried
her hand with abstraction but, as a
storyteller she had difficulties as an
abstract artist, says Tuula Karjalainen.
She paints landscapes that are quite
abstract anyway the sea, waves or
storms and if the painting is abstract

from the start she adds more figurative
elements.
"
Jansson returned to the
Moomins in 1965 with
If there was one Moominpappa at Sea,
thing that made which deals with her
troubled relationship
her truly sad
with her father. Feeling
later on in life it
as if he is not needed,
was that people Moominpappa behaves
only saw the with uncharacteristic
Moomins in her chauvinism in whisking
Sophia his family off to an
Jansson uninhabited island to
prove his worth.
Moominmamma, who
Jansson had always said was based on
Ham, is so homesick that she paints
countless pictures of Moominvalley, which
miraculously come to life.
Throughout the 1970s Jansson largely

devoted herself to writing for adults but on
a trip to Paris in 1975 she picked up her
brushes again and painted what
Karjalainen thinks are two of her finest
paintings. An unflattering self portrait
showing herself with sagging skin and red
rimmed eyes and a portrait of Tuuti, seated
at her easel surrounded by colour and
light.
Janssons niece Sophia says that, if there

was one thing that made her truly sad later
on in life it was that people only saw the
Moomins in her, but Karjalainen finds it
equally sad that, she did not fully
understand what remarkable art her
illustrations and cartoons were.
Fortunately, we now have the ideal
opportunity to appreciate both sides of this
multi-talented and truly remarkable
woman.
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BBC - Culture - The serious artist behind a childrens classic 2/6/17, 5:46 AM

News Sport Weather Shop Earth Travel

The serious artist

Tove Jansson is known and loved around Britain Literature

the world as the creator of the rotund

exhibition of her art, currently in Stockholm The dark side of

exhibitions emphasise the tolerance which

Tove Janssons self-portrait from 1975 gives an Follow BBC

The daughter of Finnish sculptor Viktor

mystical, fairytale quality to it, she was

Are these waxworks

Finnish lines disgusting?

myself as a woman. Unable to be as open

The characters Snorkmaiden, Sniff and Snufkin are

These two characters arrive in

Jansson went on to depict her lover in one

A series of monumental murals by Jansson

Ultimately the affair was to prove short

Joy is further evident in The Book About

its own right. Both Mymble and Little My

Moominmania really began to take off in

It was a situation that could not continue

personal love story. Moomin wakes up in

In Janssons Abstract Sea from1963, the choppy

In 1959 Jansson, painted another self-

storms and if the painting is abstract

Throughout the 1970s Jansson largely

Janssons niece Sophia says that, if there

If you would like to comment on this story

And if you liked this story, sign up for the

More amazing Culture stories

Between the Lines In the Frame Art

Ten books you Birds of prey How to discover a

Words' Worth Art Film

English has 3,000 Why snobbery is Eight films to

Around the BBC

Future Future Capital

19 emotions you The fire that Brits vs

Capital Autos Autos

The dangerous How to improve How food trucks

Explore the BBC

Arts Make It Digital

Terms of Use About the BBC

Privacy Policy Cookies

Accessibility Help Parental Guidance

Contact the BBC Advertise with us

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