But Jansson brought her own artistic vision to The Hobbit. Both Tolkien and Jansson wrote during, after, and in response to Hitler’s rise to power and drew on “a Nordic folk tradition of trolls and forests, light and dark,” writes Williams. From the book vignette illustrations, it is impossible to notice how the individual figures are pasted together into ‘a patchwork’ that made up each vignette.”ĭespite her best efforts to escape her previous characters, however, “the majority of the full-page illustrations follow the characteristic style of Tove’s illustrations for the Moomin books.” Her own reservations aside, this is all to the good as Jansson’s Moomin books and comic strips were built from the same mix of sensibility - childlike wonder, grown-up ethics, and a respect for the deep ecology of myth. “Tove tried different techniques and drew each figure freely again and again 20-60 times until she was happy with the result. “This led to an attempt to change the way in which she drew,” notes. Just as you wouldn’t want to think back on a time you had a toothache.” The Moomins were a creative millstone, and she struggled to get their style from around her neck.

Born in Helsinki to artist parents, she worked as a celebrated artist, author, and political cartoonist, but she is best known as the creator of the Moomins, the charming and quirky inhabitants. I’ve completely drawn a line under all that. Tove Jansson’s art, creative vision and philosophy have led her to become one of the world’s most treasured children’s authors and illustrators. But first, she wanted to cast off all associations with her most famous creation.Īs Jansson wrote to a friend when she ended the Moomins, “I never spare them a thought now it’s over. “She wrote a picture book for children about the imminent end of the world and spare, tender fiction for adults about love and family.” Jansson had exactly the sensibility to bridge Tolkien’s worlds of imaginative fancy and adult danger and moral ambiguity.

Tove jansson art