Moomin Characters Ltd has launched a brand-new website which celebrates the life and work of Moomin creator and multi-talented artist Tove Jansson.
Presented in the style of an immersive exhibition, the new website gives fans and newcomers to Jansson’s work the opportunity to understand how intricately her life and her creative output were intertwined, by presenting them side-by-side.
Visitors will be able to get new insights into Jansson’s creations by learning about what was happening in her life while she was working on the books, comics, paintings and illustrations she is so loved for. They will be able to explore her childhood home in a bohemian artist’s studio, dive into details of her rich oil paintings, and learn about the struggle of an artist with many talents trying to fulfil both her inner curiosity and the demands of an ever-growing global audience.
Images, video and text will bring Jansson’s personal story to life, from the influence of the Second World War to falling in love with a woman at a time when it was still illegal to be homosexual in Finland.
To celebrate the launch of this unique new showcase of Jansson’s work, Moomin Characters Ltd is holding the first global online screening of the film ‘Tove and Tooti in Europe’ on December 9 at 3pm GMT.
This rarely-seen-before film uses footage shot on an 8mm Cine Camera by Tove Jansson and her long-term partner, the graphic artist Tuulikki Pietilä, known as Tooti, as they documented their travels around Europe. The footage dates from 1972 to 1993 and includes scenes from Paris, Venice, London, Madrid, Dublin, Iceland and Corsica.
Another 8mm Cine Camera documentary shot by Tove and Tuulikki, called ‘Haru, Island of the Solitary’, was recently screened in the same way to celebrate Moomin Characters Ltd raising over one million euros with their #OURSEA campaign to help save the Baltic Sea. The live stream attracted thousands of Tove Jansson fans from around the world, demonstrating the huge appetite from fans to see this archive footage and learn more about her life.
Sophia Jansson, Creative Director at Moomin Characters and niece of Tove Jansson, said: “With this website, we wanted to create the richest and most comprehensive digital gallery and online resource that exists for any artist worldwide. Our hope is that it will be the most brilliant introduction to Tove’s work for newcomers, and that there will also be something new to discover for even the most committed fans. As Tove’s niece, it is very moving for me to see her life and her work presented in such a beautiful way and now accessible to people all over the world.”
The website www.tovejansson.com launches on December 3, 2021. It is currently available in English, Swedish and Finnish. Further content will be released in phases, with more material to come about the people and places that were important to Tove Jansson. Eventually, visitors will be able to step into the Moominhouse, learn about lovers becoming lifelong friends and important artistic collaborators, and a family that supported Tove in her bold, uncompromising approach to life and art.
To join the global screening of ‘Tove and Tooti in Europe’ on Thursday 9 December, please sign up via the Eventbrite page.
