Signe Hammarsten Jansson

01

A SYMBIOTIC MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP

“I believe that you are the one who understands me better than anyone else,” Tove Jansson wrote in the early 1930s to her mother, the graphic artist and stamp designer Signe Hammarsten Jansson, or Ham.

Tove was 16 years old at the time, in her second semester at the University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, where Ham had once studied before her. From early on, mother and daughter developed a close symbiotic working relationship that lasted a lifetime. Tove Jansson referred to Ham as a role model for the Moomins on many occasions. She was also a role model for her young daughter as a female artist in a male-dominated art scene. After a meeting in the Artists’ Union in 1935, Tove noted that she and her mother were “the only ladies.”

As an illustrator, the young Tove Jansson followed in her mother’s footsteps and her work was featured in many of the same magazines and newspapers. Her first drawing was published when she was just 14 years old. Like her mother, she illustrated books and designed book covers. Both Ham and Tove appeared regularly in the political satire magazine Garm (1923-1953), totaling hundreds of contributions between them over the years. Ham got involved with the publication from the start and Tove’s first drawing was featured in 1929. During the 1940s, Tove’s most prolific period in Garm, she was known as the magazine’s ‘court artist’. The mother-daughter working relationship took many forms – such as their co-illustrating the fill-in-the-blanks book Jag (1937) with text by Ella Pipping, for new parents. A similar book was published much later, Vi – en romantisk bok för älskande (1965), with text by Tove and illustrations by Ham.

Tove Jansson Signe Hammarsten Jansson — Tove Jansson together with her mother.

“I believe that you are the one who understands me better than anyone else,” Tove Jansson wrote in the early 1930s to her mother, the graphic artist and stamp designer Signe Hammarsten Jansson, or Ham.

Tove was 16 years old at the time, in her second semester at the University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, where Ham had once studied before her. From early on, mother and daughter developed a close symbiotic working relationship that lasted a lifetime. Tove Jansson referred to Ham as a role model for the Moomins on many occasions. She was also a role model for her young daughter as a female artist in a male-dominated art scene. After a meeting in the Artists’ Union in 1935, Tove noted that she and her mother were “the only ladies.”

As an illustrator, the young Tove Jansson followed in her mother’s footsteps and her work was featured in many of the same magazines and newspapers. Her first drawing was published when she was just 14 years old. Like her mother, she illustrated books and designed book covers. Both Ham and Tove appeared regularly in the political satire magazine Garm (1923-1953), totaling hundreds of contributions between them over the years. Ham got involved with the publication from the start and Tove’s first drawing was featured in 1929. During the 1940s, Tove’s most prolific period in Garm, she was known as the magazine’s ‘court artist’. The mother-daughter working relationship took many forms – such as their co-illustrating the fill-in-the-blanks book Jag (1937) with text by Ella Pipping, for new parents. A similar book was published much later, Vi – en romantisk bok för älskande (1965), with text by Tove and illustrations by Ham.

02

THE PRIEST'S WILD DAUGHTER

The young Signe Hammarsten was adventurous and wanted to break free from the boundaries of the feminine ideals of the time. She enjoyed canoeing, sailing and mountain climbing, and was an accurate shooter.

Signe Hammarsten (1882-1970) was the daughter of a priest, born in Hannäs, Östergötland, and grew up with one older sister and four brothers. Father Fredrik Hammarsten held several church positions and eventually became royal chaplain and priest of Jakob’s parish in Stockholm in 1908. Her mother Elin Emanuelsson, who married Fredrik in 1879, was the daughter of a well-known revivalist and clergyman. In her youth, she was known as “the priest’s wild child” thanks to her youthful free spirit, which was passed on to her daughter Signe, the next-generation priest’s wild child.

The young Signe Hammarsten was adventurous and wanted to break free from the boundaries of the feminine ideals of the time. She enjoyed canoeing, sailing and mountain climbing, and was an accurate shooter. She rode horses without a side saddle and once performed as a circus rider to an audience that included the Swedish royal couple. Above all, Signe Hammarsten wanted to get an education and practice a profession. She dreamed of becoming a sculptor but this was a difficult undertaking for a woman at the turn of the century. The family prioritised her brothers’ studies, but Signe did receive support to train as an art teacher. She also worked as a governess, among other things, to pay her own way. In 1902 she started at the Higher Art School (currently part of the University of Arts, Crafts and Design), a department within the Technical School where she had already taken a few courses in sculpture: plaster casting, figure modelling and wood carving. There is a photograph of her beaming with pride standing next to one of her pieces. But she never applied to the women’s department at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm.

Instead, Signe Hammarsten became a teacher at the Wallin Girls’ School in Stockholm, where she and two colleagues set up a group for girl scouts before the founding of the girl scout movement in Sweden. Scouting equalled freedom – for both students and teachers – and a photograph portrays the pioneers around a campfire wearing shirts and skirts, which were a significant departure from the long skirts of urban life. But in the long run, Signe, who sympathised with the suffragettes, was not satisfied with the teaching profession and scout life. She wanted to go out into the world and study art, and went on to travel to Paris, London and Dresden. On one of her Paris trips, which she accomplished on her own steam, she met a Finnish sculptor and fell in love.

Ham working — Ham did much more than just housework, earning a living for her family through her illustrations. Read more about her balancing of family and work.

Ham did much more than just housework, earning a living for her family through her illustrations. Read more about her balancing of family and work.

Signe Hammarsten Jansson Scout — Ham co-founded a group for girl scouts before the girl scout movement was established in Sweden.

Ham co-founded a group for girl scouts before the girl scout movement was established in Sweden.

The young Signe Hammarsten was adventurous and wanted to break free from the boundaries of the feminine ideals of the time. She enjoyed canoeing, sailing and mountain climbing, and was an accurate shooter.

Signe Hammarsten (1882-1970) was the daughter of a priest, born in Hannäs, Östergötland, and grew up with one older sister and four brothers. Father Fredrik Hammarsten held several church positions and eventually became royal chaplain and priest of Jakob’s parish in Stockholm in 1908. Her mother Elin Emanuelsson, who married Fredrik in 1879, was the daughter of a well-known revivalist and clergyman. In her youth, she was known as “the priest’s wild child” thanks to her youthful free spirit, which was passed on to her daughter Signe, the next-generation priest’s wild child.

The young Signe Hammarsten was adventurous and wanted to break free from the boundaries of the feminine ideals of the time. She enjoyed canoeing, sailing and mountain climbing, and was an accurate shooter. She rode horses without a side saddle and once performed as a circus rider to an audience that included the Swedish royal couple. Above all, Signe Hammarsten wanted to get an education and practice a profession. She dreamed of becoming a sculptor but this was a difficult undertaking for a woman at the turn of the century. The family prioritised her brothers’ studies, but Signe did receive support to train as an art teacher. She also worked as a governess, among other things, to pay her own way. In 1902 she started at the Higher Art School (currently part of the University of Arts, Crafts and Design), a department within the Technical School where she had already taken a few courses in sculpture: plaster casting, figure modelling and wood carving. There is a photograph of her beaming with pride standing next to one of her pieces. But she never applied to the women’s department at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm.

Instead, Signe Hammarsten became a teacher at the Wallin Girls’ School in Stockholm, where she and two colleagues set up a group for girl scouts before the founding of the girl scout movement in Sweden. Scouting equalled freedom – for both students and teachers – and a photograph portrays the pioneers around a campfire wearing shirts and skirts, which were a significant departure from the long skirts of urban life. But in the long run, Signe, who sympathised with the suffragettes, was not satisfied with the teaching profession and scout life. She wanted to go out into the world and study art, and went on to travel to Paris, London and Dresden. On one of her Paris trips, which she accomplished on her own steam, she met a Finnish sculptor and fell in love.

03

AN ILLUSTRATOR AND CARICATURIST KNOWN FOR HER SHARP PENCIL AND PRECISE LINES

During her working life, she produced countless book covers, illustrations and pictures, and became one of Finland’s most prominent stamp designers.

Signe Hammarsten and Viktor ‘Faffan’ Jansson married in 1913, officiated by her father at the Hammarsten family’s summer residence Ängsmarn on Blidö in Stockholm’s northern archipelago. They then went to Paris on a combined honeymoon and scholarship trip. Signe drew and sketched while Viktor worked on his sculpture ‘Woman’, which won a state art prize in 1914. It was a happy time. When Signe was pregnant with Tove, the family moved to Helsinki and she had to establish herself in a new country and new environment. The First World War and Finnish Civil War in Finland in 1918 were challenging times, and Ham brought young Tove with her to live with her parents in Stockholm. The Civil War was a period of great pain, which forever scarred the fun-loving artist that Signe had first fallen in love with. The horrors of war and his experiences of battle marked the family for a long time.

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It was during the 1920s that Ham’s work as an illustrator and cartoonist really took off, but there was never much room for the “artist’s longing” she described in an interview about ‘The married woman’s work outside the home’ (1922). She became well known in Finnish cultural life as an illustrator and caricaturist, known for her sharp pencil and precise lines. She had already appeared in the popular humorous magazine Strix in Sweden. During her working life, she produced countless book covers, illustrations and pictures, and became one of Finland’s most prominent stamp designers. She created 173 stamps – many of which have become classics – and also worked on banknotes and bonds, all during her employment at the Bank of Finland’s banknote printing office from 1924. “I best remember her sitting bent over the desk with strong magnifying glasses, working late into the night on the minutest details of her stamp sketches. Her working day was never long enough,” writes Per Olov Jansson in a commemorative portrait.

Ham was an illustrator and did not write any texts for publication, but was possibly the author of the verses in the picture book Prinsessan som inte kunde skratta (1923), for which Signe Hammarsten Jansson was the only author named. But Tove Jansson made many mentions of her evocative story-telling, often based on the Bible. “We turn out the lights in the studio and sit in front of the fire and she says: once upon a time,” it says in the autobiographical novel The Sculptor’s Daughter (1968), where the magic of storytelling also brings to life the symbiotic closeness between mother and daughter.

Signe Hammarsten Jansson Working — No wonder Tove Jansson developed a natural relationship with drawing at a young age – she was used to seeing her mother drawing day after day.

No wonder Tove Jansson developed a natural relationship with drawing at a young age – she was used to seeing her mother drawing day after day.

Signe Hammarsten Jansson Stamp — Among her many other illustrations, Ham designed and drew almost all Finnish stamps from the 1940s until 1962.

Among her many other illustrations, Ham designed and drew almost all Finnish stamps from the 1940s until 1962.

During her working life, she produced countless book covers, illustrations and pictures, and became one of Finland’s most prominent stamp designers.

Signe Hammarsten and Viktor ‘Faffan’ Jansson married in 1913, officiated by her father at the Hammarsten family’s summer residence Ängsmarn on Blidö in Stockholm’s northern archipelago. They then went to Paris on a combined honeymoon and scholarship trip. Signe drew and sketched while Viktor worked on his sculpture ‘Woman’, which won a state art prize in 1914. It was a happy time. When Signe was pregnant with Tove, the family moved to Helsinki and she had to establish herself in a new country and new environment. The First World War and Finnish Civil War in Finland in 1918 were challenging times, and Ham brought young Tove with her to live with her parents in Stockholm. The Civil War was a period of great pain, which forever scarred the fun-loving artist that Signe had first fallen in love with. The horrors of war and his experiences of battle marked the family for a long time.

“
I

b
e
s
t

r
e
m
e
m
b
e
r

h
e
r

s
i
t
t
i
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l
s

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f

h
e
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s
t
a
m
p

s
k
e
t
c
h
e
s
.

It was during the 1920s that Ham’s work as an illustrator and cartoonist really took off, but there was never much room for the “artist’s longing” she described in an interview about ‘The married woman’s work outside the home’ (1922). She became well known in Finnish cultural life as an illustrator and caricaturist, known for her sharp pencil and precise lines. She had already appeared in the popular humorous magazine Strix in Sweden. During her working life, she produced countless book covers, illustrations and pictures, and became one of Finland’s most prominent stamp designers. She created 173 stamps – many of which have become classics – and also worked on banknotes and bonds, all during her employment at the Bank of Finland’s banknote printing office from 1924. “I best remember her sitting bent over the desk with strong magnifying glasses, working late into the night on the minutest details of her stamp sketches. Her working day was never long enough,” writes Per Olov Jansson in a commemorative portrait.

Ham was an illustrator and did not write any texts for publication, but was possibly the author of the verses in the picture book Prinsessan som inte kunde skratta (1923), for which Signe Hammarsten Jansson was the only author named. But Tove Jansson made many mentions of her evocative story-telling, often based on the Bible. “We turn out the lights in the studio and sit in front of the fire and she says: once upon a time,” it says in the autobiographical novel The Sculptor’s Daughter (1968), where the magic of storytelling also brings to life the symbiotic closeness between mother and daughter.

04

HAM IN TOVE'S ART

Ham died in the summer of 1970 and Moominvalley in November was published in the autumn of that year. This is the last chapter book about Moominvalley, a farewell to the fictional world for which Ham had been such a great influence.

Traces of Ham and her life story can be found in various aspects of Tove’s writing. Ham and Tove made several trips in the 1950s, one of which inspired a comic about the Moomin family on the Riviera. Some of Tove Jansson’s short stories also depict her sometimes difficult relationship with Ham, such as The Great Journey about a woman’s conflict about wanting to travel with her lover instead of her mother. Ham’s influence on Tove can also be seen in from Ham’s time as a girl scout leader in Stockholm in the 1910s, or the character who is in love with a storm-loving artist in The Summer Book, about a grandmother, father and child called Sophia. This story also hints at a time when this (grand)mother figure is no longer around. Ham died in the summer of 1970 and Moominvalley in November was published in autumn of the same year. This is the last chapter book about Moominvalley, a farewell to the fictional world for which Ham had been such a great influence.

Tove Jansson had strong ties to Signe’s family and during her three-year study period in Stockholm in the early 1930s, she lived with Ham’s brother Einar Hammarsten, whom she loved deeply, and his family. Her maternal uncles’ aura of adventurousness, so similar to Signe’s own, meant a lot to Tove. They were storytellers, sailors, scientists, house builders, and in the autobiographical short story My Beloved Uncles (published in Meddelande, 1998), Tove portrays the wayward nature of the two uncles. As a child and youth, she spent many weeks in the summer paradise of Blidö outside Stockholm – an environment that is also reflected in her books. “Grandfather was a clergyman and used to preach to the King,” begins Sculptor’s Daughter, which then goes on to describe how her grandfather once came to a meadow, bordered by “forests and hills so that it looked like Paradise.” It was there that he built a house and planted a large garden.

Signe Hammarsten left her homeland for love and found herself in a completely unknown country and culture. She never mastered Finnish and became linguistically isolated. She had to put her artistic longing aside, though it manifested in the maps she drew much later. One of them became the cover image for Tove Jansson’s and Tuulikki Pietilä’s Notes from an Island (1996). When Ham later summed up her life in free verse, in the style of the Spoon River Anthology by poet Edgar Lee Masters (for which she produced the cover of the 1927 edition), it was a declaration of love for the way her life turned out.

I was a priest’s daughter

suffragette
teacher
scout leader
Interested in
healthcare
books and riding
a religious idealist

loved an artist

travelled to his country
survived 4 wars
worked hard for
life’s meatballs
birthed 3 wonderful
fantastic children
so in the end
it was not really all that
silly.

Ham

Text: Boel Westin

Signe Hammarsten Jansson, portrait relief. — Ham and a portrait relief, possibly of her mother Elin Emanuelsson.

Ham and a portrait relief, possibly of her mother Elin Emanuelsson.

Tove Jansson's mother Signe — Tove Jansson's mother, Signe "Ham" Hammarsten Jansson.

Tove Jansson's mother, Signe "Ham" Hammarsten Jansson.

Ham died in the summer of 1970 and Moominvalley in November was published in the autumn of that year. This is the last chapter book about Moominvalley, a farewell to the fictional world for which Ham had been such a great influence.

Traces of Ham and her life story can be found in various aspects of Tove’s writing. Ham and Tove made several trips in the 1950s, one of which inspired a comic about the Moomin family on the Riviera. Some of Tove Jansson’s short stories also depict her sometimes difficult relationship with Ham, such as The Great Journey about a woman’s conflict about wanting to travel with her lover instead of her mother. Ham’s influence on Tove can also be seen in from Ham’s time as a girl scout leader in Stockholm in the 1910s, or the character who is in love with a storm-loving artist in The Summer Book, about a grandmother, father and child called Sophia. This story also hints at a time when this (grand)mother figure is no longer around. Ham died in the summer of 1970 and Moominvalley in November was published in autumn of the same year. This is the last chapter book about Moominvalley, a farewell to the fictional world for which Ham had been such a great influence.

Tove Jansson had strong ties to Signe’s family and during her three-year study period in Stockholm in the early 1930s, she lived with Ham’s brother Einar Hammarsten, whom she loved deeply, and his family. Her maternal uncles’ aura of adventurousness, so similar to Signe’s own, meant a lot to Tove. They were storytellers, sailors, scientists, house builders, and in the autobiographical short story My Beloved Uncles (published in Meddelande, 1998), Tove portrays the wayward nature of the two uncles. As a child and youth, she spent many weeks in the summer paradise of Blidö outside Stockholm – an environment that is also reflected in her books. “Grandfather was a clergyman and used to preach to the King,” begins Sculptor’s Daughter, which then goes on to describe how her grandfather once came to a meadow, bordered by “forests and hills so that it looked like Paradise.” It was there that he built a house and planted a large garden.

Signe Hammarsten left her homeland for love and found herself in a completely unknown country and culture. She never mastered Finnish and became linguistically isolated. She had to put her artistic longing aside, though it manifested in the maps she drew much later. One of them became the cover image for Tove Jansson’s and Tuulikki Pietilä’s Notes from an Island (1996). When Ham later summed up her life in free verse, in the style of the Spoon River Anthology by poet Edgar Lee Masters (for which she produced the cover of the 1927 edition), it was a declaration of love for the way her life turned out.

I was a priest’s daughter

suffragette
teacher
scout leader
Interested in
healthcare
books and riding
a religious idealist

loved an artist

travelled to his country
survived 4 wars
worked hard for
life’s meatballs
birthed 3 wonderful
fantastic children
so in the end
it was not really all that
silly.