Friday, 26th January 2018 7-10pm
Dulwich Picture Gallery, Gallery Road, London SE21 7AD
Tickets ** (includes entry into Tove Jansson exhibition)
To mark the closing weekend of the not-to-be-missed Tove Jansson (1914-2001)exhibition, we have teamed up with our friends at Dulwich Picture Gallery for a night exploring Tove’s life through film, letters and talks.
Dulwich Picture Gallery asked us why we thought film was so important to Tove Jansson in her life and art. Read our answers here.
Letters.
For the first time, extracts will be shared from Tove Jansson’s personal correspondence with family, friends, lovers. These letters are currently being translated into English, and special guests will be reading snippets ahead of their publication by Sort of Books.
Films.
Tove and Tooti in Europe (2004)
Haru: Island of the Solitary (1998)
Shot by Tove Jansson and Tuulikki Pietilä (1970-1993)
Edited by Kanerva Cederström, Riikka Tanner
The short documentaries Tove and Tooti in Europe and Haru: Island of the Solitary show Tove and her partner the graphic designer Tuulikki Pietilä making their lives together abroad and at home, based on Tuulikki’s silent Super-8 of their travels across “old Europe” (Paris, Venice, London, Madrid, Dublin, Iceland, Ireland and Corsica) and 25 summers on their beloved hideaway island Klovharu, the location of many of Tove’s novels and stories.
“Sometimes it was as if one had fallen hopelessly in love: everything seems out of proportion. I felt, for example, that this extremely spoilt and mistreated island was a living creature. It disliked us or pitied us, depending on how we behaved or on the island’s own mood”. (Tove Jansson, 1996)
Haru has a voice-over commentary written by Tove, while their European adventures have a commentary drawn from an interview with Tuulikki and some of Tove’s stories. Together they made numerous trips to Europe accompanied by their Konic cine-camera. The 8mm films touchingly portray the artist’s and the writer’s humorous and original way of observing people, culture and everyday life. They have immortalised lovers in Paris; cats, dogs and flea markets in London, horse races in Ireland; graveyards and breathtaking views of Corsica.
The films complement the letters with intimate, charming, often-hilarious and off-the-cuff portraits of lives entwined in art and love.
Talk.
And in an unmissable talk, learn more about Tove’s life from her niece Sophia Jansson, who will be in discussion with Nicolette Jones, Children’s Books Editor at The Sunday Times.
** After-hours entry to the Tove Jansson (2014-2001) exhibition is included in the ticket.