JANUARY 2018 – TOVE’S MAGIC
Sometimes….and it is rare….a piece of art touches something ‘inside’ me. The feeling isn’t easy to explain. At the risk of sounding sentimental; I suppose it’s a bit like when you have been separated from someone you love and they come to meet you, perhaps at the station-that little heart flutter, an inner smile, breaking into an outer smile. You know what I mean don’t you?
Well, it’s happened to me again…I did a lot of smiling yesterday….I fell in love again….in Dulwich Picture Gallery at the Tove Jansson retrospective.
First it was the oil paintings, in particular the painting of the family. I’ve always loved this painting and it was larger than I imagined and much more vibrant. You could make out many of the brush strokes, consider the placing of significant marks to draw out facial characteristics and I was fascinated at the deep green line under Tove’s left eye which stood out significantly close up, but as you moved back from the painting it was just right.
There were several striking, angular self portraits, unsmiling, smoking…a woman not to be messed with…such a contrast to many of the photographs of Tove in later life where she is happy, smiling, carefree. Perhaps she knew who she was by then and didn’t need to keep her guard up.
I was surprised by her abstract paintings of rocks and seascapes. I had no idea she had painted these and they were wonderful, full of energy-reminding me of some of Maggi Hamblings wonderful sea pictures.
There were several still-lifes – one of fennel bulbs on a chopping board was anything but ‘still’; it felt alive, as if they would rock right out of the picture and into your lap! You could perhaps feel the influence of Gauguin and Matisse within her work as she was fortunate to travel from Finland to France when she was studying art.
The political cartoons were very cleverly drawn, particularly when some of the first ones were completed when she was just fifteen.
Pacifist, humanist, these attitudes continued in her Moomin stories where the main characters often meet outsiders and welcome them in to their homes. They are inclusive and accepting.
The indian ink sketches and illustrations for both her own books and those of others were extraordinary. I had no idea they would be so small and delicate . She must have been blessed with great eyesight and looking at the illustrations was fascinating, trying to work out how the images were constructed. In the one below for example the crest of the huge wave threatening Moomintroll hasn’t been drawn at all….so many of her drawings are about the space that is left.
And talking of space, the first picture in the exhibition….the ‘space in the roots’ is so warm, loving….just magic….like the stories which are magical too.
Tove is perhaps less well known as a writer of adult fiction, but I really enjoy her books and am glad that more are being translated into English for us to enjoy. If you want an easy one to start with try The Summer Book-it’s an absolute treat.
Ok…I admit it…I have a crush on Tove….illustrator, painter, author for adults and children, feminist, campaigner, lesbian, lover of the outdoors…all these of course strike a chord and that’s why later this year we’re off to Finland to get a little closer to Tove’s world, but before that I’ve an exhibition to prepare myself-better get cracking!
“Maybe my passion is nothing special, but at least it’s mine.” ― Tove Jansson, Travelling Light
adrienne hughes art 