![]() ![]() I feel her true nature, originality and individuality shine through more clearly in her other works, and of course in the Moomins. She became a very good, talented painter, but not such a highly distinctive, unconventional or independent one. “Illustration was seen then, by her and by most, as a secondary art done for commerce not self-expression. But that wasn’t her plan: “Tove wanted to be a great and successful painter, above all else” Paul explains. She illustrated the cover and a comic strip for children’s magazine Lunkentus, beginning her career as a published illustrator aged just 14. In 1929 when Ham was caring for Tove’s ailing grandmother, Tove stepped in to complete her commissions. Tove learned to draw with her mother, Signe Hammarsten-Jansson (known as ‘Ham’), whose work included designing banknotes for the Bank of Finland and illustrating more than 300 books. The book opens right at the beginning of Tove’s life as an illustrator, when aged seven she was making picture books and duplicating them on a hectograph for her classmates, with subjects ranging from Christmas Sausage to Death. ![]()
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