The Tove Jansson Book

An unprecedented overview of the life and work of Tove Jansson, one of the world’s most popular artist-illustrators and creator of the Moomin books. A bold and ever-questioning storyteller, Tove Jansson (1914–2001) remains, above all, a great humanist, a Finnish national hero and a role model to many. While best known for creating the Moomins, Jansson was also a prolific novelist, cartoonist and painter. Drawing on a rich selection of material from the Tampere Art Museum and other collections – including her diaries, student work, personal notes, paintings and theatre designs – The Tove Jansson Book gathers a lifetime of varied work together in one engaging volume, revealing the stories behind her most famous creations. From her earliest childhood, Jansson had a passionate artistic life, but it was out of her despair during the darkest years of war, and her determination to protect cheerful reverie, that the Moomins were born in 1945. Worldwide acclaim for the characters soon proliferated through books, plays, television series and even an opera. However, at their heart is a love of Finnish culture and nature that feeds into Jansson’s later novels, for which she won numerous awards. Paul Gravett offers fresh insight into the life of this pioneering cultural icon, tracing Jansson's career from her first illustrated tales – published when she was just fourteen years old – to her time as a political cartoonist during the Second World War, and on to her lesser-known monumental works, including public art commissions and theatrical set designs that made manifest her enchanting worlds. Enlightening and uniquely comprehensive, this book offers an intimate glimpse into Jansson’s life and artistry, following the strands of her passion for working across multiple narrative disciplines.