Tove Jansson

Tove Jansson was born in Helsinki, in the Grand Duchy of Finland, an autonomous state within the Russian Empire at the time. 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 Swedish-born 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 one of the islands of Pellinki near Porvoo, east of Helsinki; Jansson went to Finland's first co-educational school, in Helsinki. She then studied at Konstfack (University College of Arts, Crafts and Design), in Stockholm in 1930–1933, the Graphic School of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 1933–1937, and finally at and in Paris in 1938. Her first solo exhibition was held in 1943. It was not published until 1933. She also sold drawings that were published in magazines in the 1920s. 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 for Garm, a Finnish-Swedish political and satirical magazine. == Work ==

Moomins Jansson is principally known as the author of the Moomin books. Jansson created the Moomintrolls, a family who are white, round and smooth in appearance, with large snouts that make them vaguely resemble hippopotamuses. She first drew a deliberately ugly creature as a caricature of Immanuel Kant, the philosopher; a kinder version became the Moomintroll. The style of the Moomin books changed as time went by. The first books, written starting during the Second World War, up to Moominland Midwinter (1957), 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. Some critics have considered this an allegory of nuclear weapons. Finn Family Moomintroll deals with adventures brought on by the discovery of a magician's hat. Finally, Moominsummer Madness (Farlig midsommar, 1955) is set in a theatre: the Moomins explore the empty building and perform Moominpappa's melodrama. 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. The short story collection Tales from Moominvalley (1962) and the novels Moominpappa at Sea (1965) and Moominvalley in November (1970) are serious and psychologically searching books, far removed from the light-heartedness and cheerful humor of Finn Family Moomintroll. In addition to the Moomin novels and short stories, Tove Jansson wrote and illustrated four picture books: The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My (1952), Who will Comfort Toffle? (1960), The Dangerous Journey (1977) and An Unwanted Guest (1980). As the Moomins' fame grew, two of the original novels, Comet in Moominland and The Exploits of Moominpappa, were revised by Jansson and republished. 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. 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. Wartime satire in Garm magazine '' magazine, October 1944, lampooning Adolf Hitler as "self-important and comic" Tove Jansson worked as an illustrator and cartoonist for the Swedish-language satirical magazine Garm from 1929 to 1953, when the magazine ceased production. 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. In the Second World War, during which Finland fought against the Soviet Union, part of the time cooperating with Nazi Germany, her cover illustrations for Garm lampooned both Hitler and Joseph Stalin: in one, Stalin draws his sword from his impressively long scabbard, only to find it absurdly short; in another, multiple Hitlers ransack a house, carrying away food and artworks. In The Spectators view, Jansson made both "Hitler and Stalin appear as preposterous little figures, self-important and comic". 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, Murals Throughout her career, Jansson created a series of commissioned murals and public works which may still be viewed in their original locations, including: • The canteen at the factory at , Helsinki (1945) The scholar of literature Björn Sundmark states that Jansson's work helped to define how Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy could be depicted visually. The edition with her illustrations was not reprinted for many years, even though reviewers and "Tolkienists" liked Jansson's "expressive" Adaptations 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, titled , performed at Åbo Svenska Teater. The Moomintrolls have been adapted to media including television animations and feature films. == Personal life ==

, Tove Jansson and her mother Signe at Klovharu, the island in the Porvoo archipelago where the Janssons had a summer house, 1958 Jansson had several male lovers, including the political philosopher Atos Wirtanen, and briefly became engaged to him.—and developed a secret love affair with the married theater director Vivica Bandler. In 1956, Jansson met her lifelong partner, , 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. They found a partial solution by building a house on a small island in the Gulf of Finland, and staying there for the summer. 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, the lonely island) (1998) and (Tove and Tooti in Europe) (2004). The character Too-ticky, described by Sue Prideaux as "a wild-haired artistic troll in a Breton sweater and a beret", Jansson died on 27 June 2001 at the age of 86. == Cultural legacy ==

, 2017–2018. Jansson's books, originally written in Swedish, have been translated into 45 languages. The Moomin Museum in Tampere displays much of Jansson's work on the Moomins. There is a Moomin theme park named Moomin World in . In 2012, the BBC broadcast a one-hour documentary on Jansson, Moominland Tales: The Life of Tove Jansson. A Moominvalley Park opened at Hannō, Japan in 2019. 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. In January 2016, a permanent Tove Jansson exhibition of murals, an oil painting, photographs and sketches opened at the Helsinki Art Museum. The two murals, Party in the Countryside and Party in the City were created for Helsinki City Hall's restaurant. From June 2017 to September 2017, an exhibition of Jansson's paintings, illustrations, and cartoons was held in Kunstforeningen Gammel Strand in Copenhagen in collaboration with Ateneum in Helsinki. The exhibition then moved from October 2017 to January 2018 to the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London. This was the first major retrospective exhibition of her work in the United Kingdom. A biopic, titled Tove, directed by Zaida Bergroth was released in October 2020. Commemorations 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 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 president to be granted two such coins. She was 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 was featured on a Finnish stamp set. In 2014 the City of Helsinki honored Jansson by renaming a park near her childhood home in "Tove Jansson's Park" (, ). The city has placed a memorial plaque to Jansson at her home in Ullanlinnankatu, Helsinki. When an animated series, Moominvalley was broadcast in 2019, the journalist Rhianna Pratchett wrote an article about the impact Jansson had had on her father, the fantasy author Terry 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. == Bibliography ==

• Ducat Prize of the Finnish Art Society for young artists (1939, 1953) • Expressen Heffaklumpen Prize (with Astrid Lindgren) (1970) • Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature (1975). • Pro Finlandia Medal (1976) • The Finnish Cultural Award (1990) • The American-Scandinavian Foundation Honorary Cultural Award (1996) == Notes ==