Sophia Jansson on Tove Jansson

The Great Women Artists

Katy Hessel

Arts

4.8 • 877 Ratings

🗓️ 1 October 2024

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

I am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast is Sophia Jansson – niece of Tove Jansson, the legendary Swedish-speaking Finnish writer, artist, novelist, illustrator, and children’s book author, best known for creating the Moomins. Born in Helsinki in 1914, Tove grew up immersed in art from a young age. It was thanks to her artist parents, who raised her and her brothers in a home filled with plaster dust, clay, paintings, and floor-to-ceiling books – known to be (quote) “a box with endless secret compartments…” It was even thought she slept on the shelf at one point! But, growing up in the 1910s and 30s, it was also a time wracked by war. Turning to art, Tove made paintings – in a style influenced by the post-Impressionists – and conceived of imaginary worlds, steeped in nature – from forests to the sea – perhaps to escape the imploding world around her. Jansson’s books for children and her novels for adults are just as much great stories as they are philosophies on life as she wrote: “before the war I used to think the purpose of life was to act as justly as possible; after the war I thought the purpose of life was to be as happy as possible.” And there is no shadow of a doubt that Jansson and the Moomins, the large-snouted trolls, can show us the true meanings of life. ENJOY! -- THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: https://www.famm.com/en/ https://www.instagram.com/famm_mougins // https://www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037 Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Nada Smiljanic Music by Ben Wetherfield

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome back to the Great Women Artists podcast. I am so excited to share
0:06.0	today's episode, which is on Tova Janssen, the creator of the Moons, a fantastic artist,
0:12.0	as told by her niece Sophia Janssen. But just before we get to this, I am so delighted to say
0:17.2	that this series is again supported by the Levitt Collection, a vast and varied art
0:22.5	collection of which a major and ever-increasing portion is dedicated to works by women artists.
0:28.3	Today, there are over 600 works by women artists in the collection.
0:32.6	After publishing the must-have book, Abstract Expressionists, The Women, 23,
0:39.0	Christian Levitt went on to open on the 21st of June this year, FAMM, the first private museum in Europe, entirely dedicated
0:45.2	to women artists. Located in Mujan, near Cannes in the south of France, this newly transformed
0:51.3	space features a stunning collection of over 100 masterpieces by many of the leading female artists, from impressionism to contemporary.
0:59.8	The impressive exhibition of paintings, sculptures, photographs and more from the Leveck Collection highlights the creative brilliance of women who have played pivotal roles in shaping some of the major artistic movements of the modern period.
1:13.7	It's only 30 minutes away from Nice Airport.
1:16.4	FAMM, the female artists of the Mujan Museum, is open every day.
1:20.8	And for further information and bookings, please visit www.fam.com.
1:26.4	I hope you enjoy this episode.
1:32.3	Hello everyone and welcome to The Great Women Artist podcast with me, Katie Hessel.
1:40.2	Some of you might know me from The Great Women Artists, an Instagram account I set up in October 2015, which celebrates female artists on a daily basis, ranging from young graduates to old masters.
1:51.9	Well, in a similar fashion to the Instagram, this podcast is all about celebrating female artists from a variety of backgrounds and histories.
2:00.5	And I am so excited to be interviewing artists on their career or artists, writers,
2:05.4	curators or general art lovers on the women artist who means most of them.
2:09.9	What I want this podcast to do is celebrate female artists in all different capacities
2:14.5	so you, the listener, can gain a look into the greatest female
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