Tampere Art Museum Moominvalley Collection. Photo Jari Kuusenaho. Copyright Moomin Characters TM
As ever the vision and aspirations of Poet, Curator and Bury Arts Manager Tony Trehy know no bounds as he has managed to secure an exhibition of Moomins creator Tove Jansson’s gorgeous illustrations for Bury Art Gallery.
The Moominvalley of the Tampere Art Museum is a museum devoted to original works by writer and artist Tove Jansson. Its unique collections comprise around 2000 works. The two Galleries have also confirmed exchange exhibitions of Finnish and British art to celebrate the cultural Olympiad for the London 2012 Games.
Magical Moominvalley:
The Illustrations of Tove Jansson from Tampere Art Museum Moominvalley Collection Finland
23 October 2010 to 15 January 2011
Tampere Art Museum Moominvalley Collection. Photo Jari Kuusenaho. Copyright Moomin Characters TM
The world of the Moomins from Finland has delighted and captivated children and adults alike for the last 65 years. This Autumn Bury Art Gallery will bring this magical world to the town as the first exhibition of a unique cultural partnership between Bury and Tampere in Finland. It will be the only exhibition in the UK that coincides with the 65th anniversary of the Moomins.
The exhibition will capture the magic of The Moominvalley of the Tampere Art Museum, which creates the feeling of visiting the Moomin valley itself. Dimly lit with pools of dappled light with the Moomin boat and islands of stepping-stones, this enchanted space will provide the perfect backdrop for these original Moomin illustrations.
Tove Jansson was a prolific illustrator and less well-known for her work produced in newspapers. Depicting the cherished characters of Moominpapa, Moominmama, Moomintroll, Little My, Hemulen and The Groke, her beautiful drawings will be shown alongside a collection of rare examples of Jansson’s illustrations published in Finnish daily newspapers.
The exhibits appeal to children who are fascinated by tales of the Moomins but also to adults who can appreciate Jansson’s expressive drawings and the darker subtexts of the images and stories.
Finnish writer and artist Tove Jansson created the white hippopotamus-looking creatures whose adventures were translated into 34 languages. Jansson wrote and illustrated eight books about these eccentric creatures, the first of which The Moomins and the Great Flood was published in 1945.
The exhibition coincides with the re-printing of the Moomin stories in English and the opening of Moomins and the Comet Chase, the latest Moomin movie, launched at the Cannes Film Festival, with a soundtrack by Bjork.
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