Tove Jansson
Encyclopedia
Tove Marika Jansson (9 August 1914 – 27 June 2001) was a Swedish-Finnish novelist, painter
, illustrator
and comic strip
author. She is best known as the author of the Moomin
books.
, Finland
, which was then a part of the Grand Duchy of Finland
. Her family, part of the Swedish-speaking (Swedish: finlandssvensk) 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.
She 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.
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
(1946) and Finn Family Moomintroll
(1948), 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. In 1966 she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award
.
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 (Sculptor's Daughter), a semi-autobiographical book written in 1968. After that, she authored five more novels, including Sommarboken (The Summer Book) and five collections of short stories. Although she had a studio in Helsinki
, she lived much of her life on a small island called Klovharu, one of the Pellinki Islands near the town of Porvoo
. Jansson lived with her female partner, the graphic artist Tuulikki Pietilä
.
s. They are a family of troll
s who are white, round and furry in appearance, with large snouts that make them vaguely resemble hippopotamus
es.
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 (and was the last Moomin book to be translated into English), but the next two installments in the Moomin series, Comet in Moominland
(1946) and Finn Family Moomintroll
(1948), brought Jansson 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
(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. The Exploits of Moominpappa
(1950) tells the story of Moominpappa's adventurous youth and cheerfully parodies the genre
of memoir
s. Finally, Moominsummer Madness
(1955) 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 ("realistic" in the context of the Moomin universe) and the characters start to acquire some psychological depth. Moominland Midwinter focuses on Moomintroll, who wakes up in the middle of the winter (Moomins sleep from November to April, as mentioned on the back of the book), 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.
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.
Besides 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
(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.
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:
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
(some used later in Finnish translations as well). She also illustrated her late work, The Summer Book
(1972).
as a crying baby in diapers, surrounded by Neville Chamberlain
and other great Europe
an 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 (just as her mother had earlier) as well as several smaller productions. Her earliest comic strips were produced for productions including Lunkentus (Prickinas och Fabians äventyr, 1929), Vårbrodd (Fotbollen som Flög till Himlen, 1930), and Allas Krönika (Palle och Göran gå till sjöss, 1933).
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 WC 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
(originally Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen), 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 relations, 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 ("Moomintrolls and the End of the World"), 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 (no longer in business). 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 5 have been published in English, Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip.
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 (Radio tekee murron
) 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 (Troll in the wings), 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
.
In 1966 Tove Jansson won the Hans Christian Andersen Award
for her contributions to children's literature
.
Jansson's Moomin books, originally written in Swedish, have been translated into 33 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 a recent Finnish commemorative coin, the €10 Tove Jansson and Finnish Children's Culture commemorative coin, minted in 2004. 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.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
and comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
author. She is best known as the author of the Moomin
Moomin
The Moomins are the central characters in a series of books and a comic strip by Swedish-Finn illustrator and writer Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish by Schildts in Finland. They are a family of trolls who are white and roundish, with large snouts that make them resemble hippopotamuses...
books.
Biography
Tove Jansson was born in HelsinkiHelsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, which was then a part of the Grand Duchy of Finland
Grand Duchy of Finland
The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed 1809–1917 as part of the Russian Empire and was ruled by the Russian czar as Grand Prince.- History :...
. Her family, part of the Swedish-speaking (Swedish: finlandssvensk) minority of Finland, was an artistic one: her father Viktor Jansson
Viktor Jansson
Viktor Bernhard "Faffan" Jansson was a Finnish sculptor belonging to the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland...
was a sculptor and her mother Signe Hammarsten-Jansson
Signe Hammarsten-Jansson
Signe "Ham" Hammarsten-Jansson was a Swedish graphic artist who designed, among other things, around 220 Finnish postage stamps during the course of three decades...
was a graphic designer
Graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...
and illustrator. Tove's siblings also became artists: Per Olov Jansson
Per Olov Jansson
Per Olov Jansson is a Finnish photographer. He is the son of artists Viktor Jansson and Signe Hammarsten-Jansson, and the brother of writer Tove Jansson and cartoonist Lars Jansson...
became a photographer and Lars Jansson an author and cartoonist.
She studied at University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
in 1930–33, the Graphic School of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts
Academy of Fine Arts (Finland)
The Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki, Finland provides the highest university-level theoretical and practical training in the country in fine arts....
in 1933–1937 and finally at L'École d'Adrien Holy and L'École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
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.
Jansson wrote and illustrated her first Moomin book, The Moomins and the Great Flood
The Moomins and the Great Flood
The Moomins and the Great Flood is a book written by Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1945...
, in 1945, during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. 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
Comet in Moominland
Comet In Moominland is the second in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomin books, published in 1946....
(1946) and Finn Family Moomintroll
Finn Family Moomintroll
Finn Family Moomintroll is the third in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in 1948...
(1948), 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. In 1966 she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award
Hans Christian Andersen Award
The Hans Christian Andersen Award, sometimes known as the "Nobel Prize for children's literature", is an international award given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature"...
.
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 (Sculptor's Daughter), a semi-autobiographical book written in 1968. After that, she authored five more novels, including Sommarboken (The Summer Book) and five collections of short stories. Although she had a studio in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, she lived much of her life on a small island called Klovharu, one of the Pellinki Islands near the town of Porvoo
Porvoo
Porvoo is a city and a municipality situated on the southern coast of Finland approximately east of Helsinki. Porvoo is one of the six medieval towns in Finland, first mentioned as a city in texts from 14th century...
. Jansson lived with her female partner, the graphic artist Tuulikki Pietilä
Tuulikki Pietilä
Tuulikki Pietilä was a Finnish graphic artist and professor, born in Seattle, Washington. Pietilä was one of the most influential people in Finnish graphic arts, and her work has been shown in numerous art exhibitions...
.
Author
Jansson is principally known as the author of the Moomin books – stories for children that involve Jansson's creations, the MoominMoomin
The Moomins are the central characters in a series of books and a comic strip by Swedish-Finn illustrator and writer Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish by Schildts in Finland. They are a family of trolls who are white and roundish, with large snouts that make them resemble hippopotamuses...
s. They are a family of troll
Troll
A troll is a supernatural being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. In origin, the term troll was a generally negative synonym for a jötunn , a being in Norse mythology...
s who are white, round and furry in appearance, with large snouts that make them vaguely resemble hippopotamus
Hippopotamus
The hippopotamus , or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" , is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest...
es.
The first Moomin book, The Moomins and the Great Flood
The Moomins and the Great Flood
The Moomins and the Great Flood is a book written by Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1945...
, 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 (and was the last Moomin book to be translated into English), but the next two installments in the Moomin series, Comet in Moominland
Comet in Moominland
Comet In Moominland is the second in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomin books, published in 1946....
(1946) and Finn Family Moomintroll
Finn Family Moomintroll
Finn Family Moomintroll is the third in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in 1948...
(1948), brought Jansson 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
Moominland Midwinter
Moominland Midwinter is the fifth in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in 1957.This book sees Jansson adopt a darker, more introspective tone compared to the earlier books that is continued in the remainder of the series.Often in the book Moomintroll is either lonely,...
(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. The Exploits of Moominpappa
The Exploits of Moominpappa
The Exploits of Moominpappa, first published in 1950 and then considerably revised in 1968 under the title Moominpappa's Memoirs, is the fourth book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. The story found in this book is mentioned in the previous Moomin books, as Moominpappa writes his memoirs in...
(1950) tells the story of Moominpappa's adventurous youth and cheerfully parodies the genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
of memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
s. Finally, Moominsummer Madness
Moominsummer Madness
Moominsummer Madness is the fourth in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in 1954.The novel forms the basis of episodes 28-30 in the 1990 TV series.-Plot summary:...
(1955) pokes fun at the world of the theatre: the Moomins explore an empty theatre and perform Moominpappa's pompous hexametric
Hexameter
Hexameter is a metrical line of verse consisting of six feet. It was the standard epic metre in classical Greek and Latin literature, such as in the Iliad and Aeneid. Its use in other genres of composition include Horace's satires, and Ovid's Metamorphoses. According to Greek mythology, hexameter...
melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
.
Moominland Midwinter
Moominland Midwinter
Moominland Midwinter is the fifth in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in 1957.This book sees Jansson adopt a darker, more introspective tone compared to the earlier books that is continued in the remainder of the series.Often in the book Moomintroll is either lonely,...
marks a turning point in the series. The books take on more realistic settings ("realistic" in the context of the Moomin universe) and the characters start to acquire some psychological depth. Moominland Midwinter focuses on Moomintroll, who wakes up in the middle of the winter (Moomins sleep from November to April, as mentioned on the back of the book), and has to cope with the strange and unfriendly world he finds. The short story collection Tales from Moominvalley
Tales from Moominvalley
Tales from Moominvalley is the sixth book in the Moomin series by Finnish author, Tove Jansson. Unlike all the other books, which were novels, it is a book of short stories, and is the longest book in the series...
(1962) and the novels Moominpappa at Sea
Moominpappa at Sea
Moominpappa at Sea is the seventh book in the Moomin books by Finnish author Tove Jansson. It is based primarily around the character of Moominpappa. It was first published in 1965...
(1965) and Moominvalley in November
Moominvalley in November
Moominvalley in November is the ninth and final book in the Moomin series by Finnish author Tove Jansson, and was first published in both her native Swedish and English in 1971...
(1970) 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
The Summer Book
The Summer Book is a book written by Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1972.-Plot:An elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter Sophia spend a summer together on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland exploring, talking about life, nature, everything but their feelings about Sophia's mother's...
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.
Besides 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
The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My
The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My was the first Moomin picture book by Finnish author Tove Jansson. It was first published in 1952 in Swedish language.-Plot:...
(1952), Who will Comfort Toffle?
Who Will Comfort Toffle?
Who Will Comfort Toffle? is the second picture book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. It was first published in 1960. It was first translated into English by Kingsley Hart....
(1960), The Dangerous Journey
The Dangerous Journey
The Dangerous Journey is a children's picture book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. It was published in 1977...
(1977) and An Unwanted Guest
An Unwanted Guest
Skurken i muminhuset is a children's picture book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. It was published in 1980....
(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.
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 impressionismImpressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
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 StrömbergStromberg (company)Stromberg or Oy Strömberg Ab, was a company founded by Gottfrid Strömberg in 1889 in Helsinki, Finland, and manufactured electromechanical products such as: generators, electric motors and small power plants. The company was founded initially as Gottfrid Strömbergin sähköyhtiö in Finnish, Gottfrid...
factory at PitäjänmäkiPitäjänmäkiPitäjänmäki is a district located on the westernmost district of Helsinki, Finland, near the border with Espoo. There are many IT and machine manufacturing companies in the area, especially around the Valimo railway station. Such companies include Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, ABB, Fujitsu...
, HelsinkiHelsinkiHelsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
(1945) - The Aurora Children's Hospital in HelsinkiHelsinkiHelsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
- The Kaupunginkellari restaurant of HelsinkiHelsinkiHelsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
Town Hall - The Seurahuone hotel at HaminaHaminaHamina is a town and a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Kymenlaakso region. The town has a population of and covers an area of ofwhich is water. The population density is...
- The Wise and Foolish VirginsParable of the Ten VirginsThe Parable of the Ten Virgins, also known as the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, is one of the well known parables of Jesus. It appears in only one of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament...
altarpiece in TeuvaTeuvaTeuva is a municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia region. The population of Teuva is and the municipality covers an area of of which is inland water...
Church (1954) - A number of fairy-tale murals in schools and kindergartens including the kindergarten in PoriPoriPori is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäenjoki river, which is the largest in Finland. Pori is the most important town in the Satakunta region....
(1984)
In addition to providing the illustrations for her own Moomin books, Jansson also illustrated Swedish translations of classics such as J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's The Hobbit
The Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
and Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's The Hunting of the Snark
The Hunting of the Snark
The Hunting of the Snark is usually thought of as a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll in 1874, when he was 42 years old...
and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
(some used later in Finnish translations as well). She also illustrated her late work, The Summer Book
The Summer Book
The Summer Book is a book written by Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1972.-Plot:An elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter Sophia spend a summer together on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland exploring, talking about life, nature, everything but their feelings about Sophia's mother's...
(1972).
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 HitlerAdolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
as a crying baby in diapers, surrounded by Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
and other great Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an leaders, who tried to calm the baby down by giving it slices of cake – Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, etc. Jansson also produced illustrations during this period for the Christmas magazines Julen and Lucifer (just as her mother had earlier) as well as several smaller productions. Her earliest comic strips were produced for productions including Lunkentus (Prickinas och Fabians äventyr, 1929), Vårbrodd (Fotbollen som Flög till Himlen, 1930), and Allas Krönika (Palle och Göran gå till sjöss, 1933).
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
Proto
Proto- is a prefix meaning "first".Proto may also refer to:- Organizations :* Proto , a tool company , now a division of Stanley Black & Decker...
-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
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
with one of her brothers, she drew "the ugliest creature imaginable" on the wall of their WC 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 Moomins and the Great Flood
The Moomins and the Great Flood is a book written by Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1945...
(originally Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen), the Immanuel-Kant-Moomin is still perceptible. The name "Moomin" comes from Tove Jansson's uncle, Einar Hammarsten: when she was studying in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
and living with her Swedish relations, 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 ("Moomintrolls and the End of the World"), based loosely on Comet in Moominland, for the Swedish-language newspaper Ny Tid
Ny Tid (Finland)
Ny Tid is a Swedish Green Leftist weekly magazine in Finland. It was founded in 1944 as Swedish political magazine for the Finnish left wing umbrella organization SKDL. The magazine has been independent from political parties since 1991, when its ownership was transferred to the reader owned...
, and she accepted the offer. The comic strip Moomintroll, started in 1954 in the Evening News
Evening News (London)
Evening News, formerly known as The Evening News, was an evening newspaper published in London from 1881 to 1980, reappearing briefly in 1987. It became highly popular under the control of the Harmsworth brothers. For a long time it maintained the largest daily sale of any evening newspaper in London...
, a newspaper for the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
area and London commuters (no longer in business). 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 5 have been published in English, Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip.
Theater
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
Åbo Svenska Teater
Åbo Svenska Teater is a Finland-Swedish theatre in the city of Turku in Finland and the oldest theatre in the country, founded in 1839. The building itself is also the oldest still functioning theatre house in Finland...
.
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 (Radio tekee murron
Radio tekee murron
Radio tekee murron is a Finnish crime comedy directed by Matti Kassila and starring Hannes Häyrinen. The idea for the movie came from an actual radio program done by sensationalist reporter Usko Santavuori, in which he committed a fake burglary of which local police forces had not been made...
) which was performed at the Finnish National Opera
Finnish National Opera
The Finnish National Opera in Helsinki is the leading opera company in Finland. Its home base is the Opera House on Töölönlahti bay in Töölö which opened in 1993, and is state-owned through Senate Properties...
. By 1958, Jansson began to become directly involved in theater as Lilla Teater produced Troll i kulisserna (Troll in the wings), a play with lyrics by Jansson and music composed by Erna Tauro
Erna Tauro
Erna Tauro, née Pergament, was a Finnish-Swedish pianist and composer.-Biography:Erna Tauro was born in Viborg, daughter of Isak Pergament and Rifka née Rosenthal, and niece of Moses Pergament and Simon Parmet. The family moved to Berlin in 1921 and later to Helsinki...
. 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
Ilkka Kuusisto
Ilkka Taneli Kuusisto is a Finnish composer of popular opera and father of Jaakko Kuusisto and Pekka Kuusisto. He was the general manager of the Finnish National Opera 1984-1992.-Operas:* Muumiooppera 1974* Miehen kylkiluu 1977...
.
Jansson's cultural legacy
Hans Christian Andersen Award
The Hans Christian Andersen Award, sometimes known as the "Nobel Prize for children's literature", is an international award given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature"...
for her contributions to children's literature
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
.
Jansson's Moomin books, originally written in Swedish, have been translated into 33 languages. After the Kalevala
Kalevala
The Kalevala is a 19th century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology.It is regarded as the national epic of Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature...
and books by Mika Waltari
Mika Waltari
Mika Toimi Waltari was a Finnish writer, best known for his best-selling novel The Egyptian .- Early life :...
, they are the most widely translated works of Finnish literature
Finnish literature
Finnish literature refers to literature written in Finland. Earliest texts in Finland were written in Swedish or Latin during the Finnish Middle Age . Finnish-language literature was slowly developing from the 16th century onwards. First artistic heyday of the Finnish literature was the mid-19th...
.
The Moomin Museum
Moomin Museum
Moomin Valley is situated in the city of Tampere, Finland. In the Moomin Valley Museum you can see original illustrations made by Tove Jansson , 40 miniatures, tableaux about Moomin events and a small Moomin House...
in Tampere
Tampere
Tampere is a city in southern Finland. It is the most populous inland city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of , growing to approximately 300,000 people in the conurbation and over 340,000 in the metropolitan area. Tampere is the third most-populous municipality in...
displays much of Jansson's work on the Moomins. There is also a Moomin theme park named Moomin World
Moomin World
Moomin World is the Moomin Theme Park especially for children, based on the Moomin books by Tove Jansson. Moomin World is on the island of Kailo beside the old town of Naantali, near the city of Turku in Finland Proper region....
in Naantali
Naantali
Naantali is a city in south-western Finland, known as one of the most important tourist centres of the country. The municipality has a population of , and is located in the region of Finland Proper, west of Turku....
.
Tove Jansson was selected as the main motif in a recent Finnish commemorative coin, the €10 Tove Jansson and Finnish Children's Culture commemorative coin, minted in 2004. 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.
Novels
- Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen (1945, The Moomins and the Great FloodThe Moomins and the Great FloodThe Moomins and the Great Flood is a book written by Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1945...
) (translated into English) - Kometjakten (1946, Comet in MoominlandComet in MoominlandComet In Moominland is the second in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomin books, published in 1946....
) (translated into English)- Kometen kommer (1968; reworked edition of Comet in Moominland)
- Trollkarlens hatt (1948, Finn Family MoomintrollFinn Family MoomintrollFinn Family Moomintroll is the third in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in 1948...
; in some editions The Happy Moomins) (translated into English) - Muminpappans bravader (1950, The Exploits of MoominpappaThe Exploits of MoominpappaThe Exploits of Moominpappa, first published in 1950 and then considerably revised in 1968 under the title Moominpappa's Memoirs, is the fourth book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. The story found in this book is mentioned in the previous Moomin books, as Moominpappa writes his memoirs in...
) (translated into English)- Muminpappans memoarer (1968, The Memoirs of Moominpappa; reworked edition of The Exploits of Moominpappa) (translated into English)
- Farlig midsommar (1954, Moominsummer MadnessMoominsummer MadnessMoominsummer Madness is the fourth in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in 1954.The novel forms the basis of episodes 28-30 in the 1990 TV series.-Plot summary:...
) (translated into English) - Trollvinter (1957, Moominland MidwinterMoominland MidwinterMoominland Midwinter is the fifth in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in 1957.This book sees Jansson adopt a darker, more introspective tone compared to the earlier books that is continued in the remainder of the series.Often in the book Moomintroll is either lonely,...
) (translated into English) - Pappan och havet (1965, Moominpappa at SeaMoominpappa at SeaMoominpappa at Sea is the seventh book in the Moomin books by Finnish author Tove Jansson. It is based primarily around the character of Moominpappa. It was first published in 1965...
) (translated into English) - Sent i November (1970, Moominvalley in NovemberMoominvalley in NovemberMoominvalley in November is the ninth and final book in the Moomin series by Finnish author Tove Jansson, and was first published in both her native Swedish and English in 1971...
) (translated into English)
Short story collections
- Det osynliga barnet och andra berättelser (1962, Tales from MoominvalleyTales from MoominvalleyTales from Moominvalley is the sixth book in the Moomin series by Finnish author, Tove Jansson. Unlike all the other books, which were novels, it is a book of short stories, and is the longest book in the series...
) (translated into English)
Picture books
- Hur gick det sen? (1952, The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little MyThe Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little MyThe Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My was the first Moomin picture book by Finnish author Tove Jansson. It was first published in 1952 in Swedish language.-Plot:...
), (translated into English) - Vem ska trösta Knyttet? (1960, Who Will Comfort Toffle?Who Will Comfort Toffle?Who Will Comfort Toffle? is the second picture book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. It was first published in 1960. It was first translated into English by Kingsley Hart....
) (translated into English) - Den farliga resan (1977, The Dangerous JourneyThe Dangerous JourneyThe Dangerous Journey is a children's picture book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. It was published in 1977...
) (translated into English) - Skurken i Muminhuset (1980, An Unwanted GuestAn Unwanted GuestSkurken i muminhuset is a children's picture book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. It was published in 1980....
) - Visor från Mumindalen (1993, Songs From Moominvalley) (songbook. With Lars Jansson and Erna Tauro)
Comic strips
- Mumin, Books 1–7 (1977–1981, MoominMoomin comic stripsMoomin is a comic strip created by Tove Jansson, and followed up by Lars Jansson, featuring their Moomin family of characters....
; Books 3–7 with Lars Jansson) (all seven released in Swedish, Books 1–5 released in English).
Novels
- Sommarboken (1972, The Summer BookThe Summer BookThe Summer Book is a book written by Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1972.-Plot:An elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter Sophia spend a summer together on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland exploring, talking about life, nature, everything but their feelings about Sophia's mother's...
) (translated into English) - Solstaden (1974, Sun City) (translated into English)
- Den ärliga bedragaren (1982, The Honest Swindler) (translated into English in 2009, under the title The True DeceiverThe True Deceiver (novel)The True Deceiver is a novel by Swedish-Finnish author Tove Jansson. It was translated into English by Thomas Teal and won the Best Translated Book Award in 2011....
) - Stenåkern (1984, The Field of Stones)
- Anteckningar från en ö (1993, Notes from an Island) (autobiographyAutobiographyAn autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
; illustrated by Tuulikki PietiläTuulikki PietiläTuulikki Pietilä was a Finnish graphic artist and professor, born in Seattle, Washington. Pietilä was one of the most influential people in Finnish graphic arts, and her work has been shown in numerous art exhibitions...
)
Short story collections
- Bildhuggarens dotter (1968, Sculptor's Daughter) (semi-autobiographical, translated into English)
- Lyssnerskan (1971, The Listener)
- Dockskåpet och andra berättelser (1978, The Dollhouse and Other Stories)
- Resa med lätt bagage (1987, Travelling with Light Luggage) (translated into English in 2010, under the title Travelling Light)
- Rent spel (1989, Fair Play) (translated into English)
- Brev från Klara och andra berättelser (1991, Letters from Klara and Other Stories)
- Meddelande. Noveller i urval 1971–1997 (1998, A Winter BookA Winter BookA Winter Book is a book written by Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1998. It features 13 stories from Tove Jansson’s first book for adults, The Sculptor’s Daughter plus seven of her most cherished later stories .-See also:*Tove Jansson...
) (compilation of earlier material. Translated into English)
Picture books
- Sara och Pelle och näckens bläckfiskar (under the pseudonymPseudonymA pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Vera Haij) (1933, Sara and Pelle and the Octopuses of the Water Sprite)
Awards
- Hans Christian Andersen AwardHans Christian Andersen AwardThe Hans Christian Andersen Award, sometimes known as the "Nobel Prize for children's literature", is an international award given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature"...
(gold medal, 1966) - Award for State Literature (1963, 1971 and 1982)
- Pro Finlandia Medal (1976)
- Swedish Culture Foundation Honorary Award (1983)
- The Finnish Cultural Award (1990)
- Selma Lagerlöf PrizeSelma Lagerlöf PrizeThe Selma Lagerlöf Prize is a Swedish literary prize awarded to a Swedish author writing in the spirit of Selma Lagerlöf who was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The prize was founded by the Sunne Municipality in 1983 and has been awarded annually since 1984. Recipients...
(1992) - The Finland Art Prize (1993)
- Mercuri International pronssiomena (1994)
- The Swedish AcademySwedish AcademyThe Swedish Academy , founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden.-History:The Swedish Academy was founded in 1786 by King Gustav III. Modelled after the Académie française, it has 18 members. The motto of the Academy is "Talent and Taste"...
Award (1994) - The American-Scandinavian FoundationThe American-Scandinavian FoundationThe American-Scandinavian Foundation, is an American non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting international understanding through educational and cultural exchange between the United States and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden...
Honorary Cultural Award (1996) - WSOYSanomaWSOYSanoma Oyj is a leading media group in the Nordic countries with operations in 20 European countries, based in Helsinki...
Literary Foundation Award (1999) - Le Prix de l'Office Chrétien du Livre
External links
- Tove Jansson at www.moomin.com
- Tove Jansson at Schildts
- Tove Jansson at WSOY
- thisisFINLAND: People – Tove Jansson: writer, painter and illustrator
- The Moomin Trove Comprehensive lists of Tove Jansson's Moomin books