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To be sold at our Important Sale: Modern & Contemporary Art + Design 13 – 15 May 2025
Lot 609 Tove Jansson (Finland/Sweden 1914‑2001). ”Nature morte med spegel”. Signed and dated Tove Jansson -37 lower right. Oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm.
Uppsala Auktionskammare would like to thank Hanna Ahlström and Sophia Jansson for valuable information when cataloguing this lot.
250.000 – 300.000 SEK
€ 23.000 – 27.000
The Finnish Art Society’s art lottery, acquired at the Academy of Art exhibition in 1937.
Director and politician Anders (Antti) Hackzell (1881‑1946) and his wife Elsie Hackzell (1893‑1983), Helsinki.
Their daughter Eva von Knorring (born Hackzell, 1921‑2000), Salo.
Thence by descent to the present owner.
Konsthallen, Helsinki, Academy of Art exhibition, October 1937, cat. no. 18.
Erik Kruskopf, Bildkonstnären Tove Jansson, 1992, mentioned p. 102, illustrated p. 100.
”You yourself are all ages, youngest and oldest and constantly at the beginning of your life, which you have already lived so many times over.”
The words were spoken by the writer and journalist Atos Wirtanen, Tove Jansson’s longtime friend and lover. An accurate description of a woman who walked her own path in life and dedicated herself to the arts within different fields, as she became famous for being an illustrator, writer, painter, scenographer, cartoonist and mural artist at the same time. Included in this sale is a wonderful still life, depicting an interior where a bouquet of flowers in a vase is seen in front of a mirror.
According to a family legend, Tove learned to paint before she took her first steps. It was love at first sight when she discovered art, which she did early on since her father was the sculptor Viktor Jansson (1886-1958) and her mother the graphic designer and illustrator Signe Hammerstein-Jansson (1882-1970). Both her parents worked from home and as a little child, Tove would often sit in her mother’s lap watching her draw. She learned how to read early on and some of her favourite fairytales were she found in ”Bland tomtar och troll” with illustrations by John Bauer, as well as in Elsa Beskow’s colourful illustrations and stories where ”the children were left to discover their own fantasies and thoughts”. Already as a seven year old little girl, Tove was eager to get her own stories published and began to write novels and poems in homemade books from ”Tove Förlag AB”, which she sold to her classmates. In the 1920s, she published fourteen books at home in a very limited edition and coloured them by hand afterwards. At the age of thirteen, Allas Krönika published three of her cartoon illustrations, a milestone for the young girl who’s mind was already set on an artistic career. During the following year she had to fill in for her mother, who left work to take care of Tove’s sick grandmother, and worked on illustrations for the tenth number of the the Finish childrens’ magazine Lunkentus. Lunkentus accepted her suggestions and agreed to publish six episodes more of her series. The successful debut as an illustrator opened more doors for the teenage Tove Jansson, who continued to create joyful drawings for various magazines and newspapers.
So far, Tove was an almost self-taught artist with an unmistakable talent and big dreams. Her mother allowed her to drop out of school in 1930 so that she could move to Stockholm and continue her studies at Tekniska skolan instead. Moving abroad at the age of sixteen was a huge challenge but Tove worked hard and relentlessly, in her journal from 1931 she wrote: ”I have to become an artist for the sake of my family”. Alongside her studies she continued to illustrate to earn her living, but living in Sweden also opened her eyes for painting in a more broad sense. Eventually she moved back to Helsinki and continued her studies at Finska Konstföreningens ritskola (Ateneum). Many of the teachers had conservative opinions that did not always compile with Tove Jansson’s, but one teacher stood out. Sam Vanni became a big inspiration for Tove and also her mentor and lover.
Alongside her famous Moomin illustrations, Tove favoured still lifes and landscapes. Presented in this sale is a striking interior with flowers in front of a mirror, ”Nature morte med spegel”, an early example of Tove’s brilliant use of colours and remarkable sense of capturing the light. The work is dated 1937, making it one of the last works she made before her move to Paris the following year. It was among the three works she showed at the Academy of Art exhibition at Konsthallen in Helsinki 1937. In Erik Kruskof’s book Bildkonstnären Tove Jansson, he mentions the present still life as one of the exhibited works: ”In the autumn, the Academy of Fine Arts’ exhibition took place, in which Tove once again participated with three works. Among them was the self-portrait, and in addition, she exhibited a painting titled Horses and a still life. […] As usual, the Finnish Art Society purchased several works from the exhibition for its lottery, and from Tove Jansson, they bought the still life.” Perhaps won at the art lottery, the painting ended up in the collection of the Finnish politician and director Anders (Antti) Hackzell and his wife Elsie Hackzell. Antti was the foreign minister of Finland 1932-1936 and prime minister between August and September 1944. They eventually passed it down to their daughter Eva (born Hackzell, later married von Knorring). The painting has remained in the family ever since.
Tove Jansson became a female pioneer during her lifetime and is regarded to be one of the most influential artists of our time. Today, her works are highly sought-after among collectors and institutions. ”Nature morte med spegel” presents an exciting opportunity to acquire one of Tove Jansson’s early still lifes. ■