Tove Marika Jansson (1914 - 2001)

Tove Marika Jansson is born 9 Aug 1914 in Helsingfors, Nylands Län, Finland. She is a daughter of Viktor Jansson and Signe Hammarsten, a family of Swedish-speaking Finns (Finlandsvenska).

Jansson studies 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 displays a number of artworks in exhibitions during the 30s and early 40s.

At age 14, Jansson writes and illustrates her first picture book "Sara och Pelle och näckens bläckfiskar". It is not published until 1933.

During the 1930s Jansson makes several trips to other European countries. She draws from these for her short stories and articles, which she illustrates and are publishes in magazines, periodicals and daily papers. During this period, Jansson designs many book covers, adverts and postcards. Following her mother's example, she draws illustrations for Garm from the 1930s to 1953. She also produces illustrations during this period for the Christmas magazines Julen and Lucifer as well as several smaller productions.

Jansson displays a number of artworks in exhibitions during the 1930s and early 1940s,

She is briefly engaged in the 1940s to Atos Wirtanen.

Her first solo exhibition is held in 1943.

Jansson creates the Moomins, a family of trolls who are white, round and smooth in appearance, with large snouts that make them vaguely resemble hippopotamuses.

The first Moomin book, The Moomins and the Great Flood, is written in 1945. The book is not a success, but the next two installments in the Moomin series, Comet in Moominland (1946) and Finn Family Moomintroll (1948), brought Jansson some fame.

After Moominvalley in November Tove Jansson stops writing about Moomins and starts writing for adults.

In 1952, after Comet in Moominland and Finn Family Moomintroll is translated into English, a British publisher asked if Tove Jansson is interested in drawing comic strips about the Moomins. Jansson has already drawn a long Moomin comic adventure, Mumintrollet och jordens undergång, and accepts the offer. The comic strip Moomintroll, starts in 1954 in the London Evening News. Jansson draws 21 long Moomin stories from 1954 to 1959, writing them at first by herself and then with her brother Lars Jansson. She eventually gives 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 is published in book form in Swedish; books 1 to 6 are published in English, Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip

Jansson also creates a series of commissioned murals and public works throughout her career.

Jansson illustrates Swedish translations of classics such as J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She also illustrates her late work, The Summer Book (1972).

Several stage productions are made from Jansson's Moomin series, including a number that Jansson herself is involved in.

The earliest production is a 1949 theatrical version of Comet in Moominland.

In the early 1950s, Jansson collaborates on Moomin-themed children's plays with Vivica Bandler. In 1952, Jansson designs stage settings and dresses for Pessi and Illusia, a ballet by Ahti Sonninen is performed at the Finnish National Opera. By 1958, Jansson begins to become directly involved in theater as Lilla Teater produces Troll i kulisserna, a play with lyrics by Jansson and music composed by Erna Tauro. The production is a success.

Jansson has several male lovers. However, she eventually develops a secret love affair with the married theater director Vivica Bandler.

In 1956 Jansson meets her lifelong partner, Tuulikki "Tooti" Pietilä. In Helsinki they live separately, in neighboring blocks, visiting each other privately through an attic passageway. In the 1960s, they build a house on a tiny uninhabited island in the Gulf of Finland, where they would escape for the summer months.

Tove Jansson writes and illustrates four original and 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).

Jansson writes Bildhuggarens dotter, a semi-autobiographical novel published in 1968. After that, she writes five more novels, including Sommarboken and five collections of short stories. The Summer Book is the best known of her adult fiction and is translated into English.

Between 1960 and 1970 Jansson holds five solo exhibitions.

In 1974 the first Moomin opera is produced.

Jansson dies on 27 June 2001 from cancer and is buried with her parents and younger brother Lars, at the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki Municipality, Uusimaa, Finland. ^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #91853375 for Tove Marika Jansson (9 Aug 1914–27 Jun 2001), Find a Grave Memorial no. 91853375, citing Hietaniemi Cemetery, Helsinki, Helsinki Municipality, Uusimaa, Finland.

See also:

• Biografiskt lexikon för Finland
• Wikipedia: Tove Jansson