Tove Jansson: Work and Love Free
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
FREE TOVE JANSSON: WORK AND LOVE PDF Tuula Karjalainen | 304 pages | 01 Apr 2017 | Penguin Books Ltd | 9780141978826 | English | London, United Kingdom Hiding in Moominland: the conflicted life of Tove Jansson | The Spectator Tove Jansson: Work and Love up by artistic parents, Tove Jansson: Work and Love studied art from to in StockholmHelsinki and Paris. Her first solo art exhibition was in At the same time, she was writing short stories and articles for publication, as well as creating the graphics for book covers and other purposes. She continued to work as an artist and a writer for the rest of her life. The next two books, Comet in Moominland and Finn Family Moomintrollpublished in and respectively, were highly successful in sales, adding Tove Jansson: Work and Love sales of the first book. For her work as a children's writer she received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in Starting with the semi-autobiographical Bildhuggarens dotter Sculptor's Daughter inJansson wrote six novels, including the admired [3] Sommarboken The Summer Bookand five books of short stories for adults. Her family, part of the Swedish-speaking minority of Finlandwas an artistic one: her father, Viktor Janssonwas a sculptor, and her mother, Signe Tove Jansson: Work and Lovewas 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. She displayed a number of artworks in exhibitions during the 30s and early 40s, and her first solo exhibition was held in She also sold drawings that were published in magazines in the s. During the s 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. Tove Jansson: Work and Love her mother's example, she drew illustrations for Garman anti-fascist Finnish-Swedish satirical magazine. She was briefly engaged in the s to Atos Wirtanen. This is now exhibited at the Moomin museum in Tampere. Jansson is principally known as the author of the Moomin books. Jansson created the Moominsa family of trolls who are white, round and smooth in appearance, with large snouts that make them vaguely resemble hippopotamuses. 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, but the next two installments in the Moomin series, Comet in Moominland and Finn Family Moomintrollbrought Jansson some Tove Jansson: Work and Love. The style of the Moomin books changed as time went by. The first books, written starting just after the Second World War, up to Moominland Midwinterare 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 Moominlanda comet nearly destroys the Moominvalley some critics have considered this an allegory of nuclear weapons [8]. Finn Family Moomintroll deals with adventures brought on by the discovery of a magician's hat. The Exploits of Moominpappa tells the story of Moominpappa's adventurous youth and cheerfully parodies the genre of memoir. Finally, Moominsummer Madness pokes fun at the world of the theatre: the Moomins explore an empty theatre and perform Moominpappa's pompous hexametric melodrama. As the Moomins' fame grew, two of the original novels, Comet in Moominland and The Exploits of Moominpappawere 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 Jansson spoke Tove Jansson: Work and Love interviews about the backgrounds of, and possible models for, her characters. The Moomins, generally speaking, relate Tove Jansson: Work and Love to Jansson's own family — they were bohemian and lived close to nature. Moominpappa and Moominmamma are often seen as portraits of Jansson's parents. 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. The girl is modelled on her niece, Sophia Jansson; the girl's father on Sophia's father, Lars Jansson; and the grandmother on Tove's mother Signe. After that, she wrote five more novels, including Sommarboken The Summer Book and five collections of short stories. Tove Jansson: Work and Love Jansson worked as an illustrator and cartoonist for the Swedish-language satirical magazine Garm [a] from the s to 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, Czechoslovakiaetc. In the Second World Warduring which Finland fought against the Soviet Unionpart of Tove Jansson: Work and Love time cooperating with Nazi Germany, [12] her cover illustrations for Garm lampooned both Hitler and Joseph Stalin : in one, Stalin Tove Jansson: Work and Love his sword from his impressively long scabbardonly to find it absurdly short; in another, multiple Hitlers ransack a house, carrying away food and artworks. In The Spectator ' s view, Jansson made Hitler a preposterous little figure, self-important and comic. 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. 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, [6] 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 Tove Jansson: Work and Love about Immanuel Kant with one of her brothers, she drew "the ugliest creature imaginable" on the wall of their outhouse and wrote under it "Kant". The name "Moomin" 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. Inafter 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. The comic strip Moomintrollstarted in Tove Jansson: Work and Love the London Evening News. Tove Jansson drew 21 long Moomin stories from toTove Jansson: Work and Love 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 Tove Jansson: Work and Love the strip and continued it until Although she became known first and foremost as an author, Tove Jansson: Work and Love Jansson considered her careers as author and painter to be of equal importance. She painted her whole life, changing style from the classical impressionism of her youth to the highly abstract modernist style of her later years. Jansson displayed a number of artworks in exhibitions during the s and early s, and her first solo exhibition was held in Despite generally positive reviews, criticism induced Jansson to refine her style such that in her solo exhibition her style had become less overloaded in terms of detail and content. Between and 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. She also illustrated her late work, The Summer Book Several stage productions have been made from Tove Jansson: Work and Love Moomin series, including a number that Jansson herself was involved in. In the Tove Jansson: Work and Love s, Jansson collaborated on Moomin-themed children's plays with Vivica Bandler. InJansson designed stage settings and dresses for Pessi and Illusiaa ballet by Ahti Sonninen Radio tekee murron which was performed at the Finnish National Opera. The production was a success, and later performances were held in Sweden and Norway. In the first Moomin opera was produced, with music composed by Ilkka Kuusisto. Jansson had several male lovers, including the political philosopher Atos Wirtanenwho was the inspiration for the Moomin character Snufkin. In Helsinki they lived separately, in neighbouring blocks, visiting each other privately through an attic passageway. Jansson died on 27 June at the age of 86 from cancer and is buried with her parents and younger brother Lars, Tove Jansson: Work and Love the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki. The biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award conferred by the International Board on Books for Young People is the highest recognition available to a writer or illustrator of children's books. Jansson Tove Jansson: Work and Love the writing award in Jansson's books, originally written in Swedish, have been translated into 45 languages. There is also a Moomin theme park named Moomin World in Naantali.