Tove through Tuulikki’s lens – see videos from the island Klovharun
Tuulikki Pietilä bought her first Konica camera during her and Tove Jansson’s great round-the-world trip in 1971-1972. Pietilä’s unprecedented, painstakingly shot super 8 films in the Finnish archipelago reveal everyday, joyful moments from the Klovharun of the 1980s.
Graphic artist, professor Tuulikki Pietilä is known as one of the most important artists in Finnish art graphics. She was the life partner of Tove Jansson and the model for Too-ticky in the Moomin books, but also an avid filmmaker. She bought her first Konica, a super 8 mm camera, in Japan in 1971 on a round-the-world trip with Tove Jansson. The camera and Tuulikki became an inseparable duo.
Never-before-seen footage from the super 8 mm collection
Pietilä shot hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of film footage from the couple’s trips abroad around the world. She also captured countless moments of her and Jansson’s life together on the island of Klovharun in Pellinge on super 8 mm film. In 1964, 60 years ago, the building of a small four-sided cottage on a small outcrop in the Gulf of Finland was initiated. The cottage was designed by Pietilä’s brother, architect Reima Pietilä, together with his architect wife Raili Pietilä. The cottage on the island of Klovharun was home to Jansson and Pietilä for nearly thirty summers.
The room would have four windows, one in each wall. Towards the south-east we’d need to see the big storms that rage right across the island, on the east we’d see the moon’s reflection in the lagoon, and on the west side a rock face with moss and polypody ferns. To the north, we’ll keep watch for approaching boats so we’ll have time to get ready.
Tove Jansson & Tuulikki Pietilä
Notes from an Island
These never-before-seen videos are a small part of a vast collection of Pietilä’s super 8 mm footage. In the 1980s, Tuulikki Pietilä captured both everyday life and for example the atmosphere on the day after Jansson’s birthday, surrounded by bouquets of flowers. Summers on the island were enjoyable months for the duo, working and living surrounded by the sea.
Tove Jansson after her birthday party in 1989.
Tove Jansson on Klovharu in 1986.
Tove Jansson feeds the seagulls on Klovharu in 1983.
Tove Jansson’s daily chores on the island without running water and electricity, 1983.
Two documentary films, Haru, Island of the Solitary (1994) and Tove and Tooti in Europe (2004), have also been made from the super 8 mm footage shot by Pietilä. The films are directed by Kanerva Cederström and Riikka Tanner.
Donations to art museums, educational institutions and archives
In 1995, the 78-year-old Tuulikki Pietilä donated her entire collection of super 8 mm films to the National Audiovisual Institute in Finland. The donated collection also includes footage shot by her brother, architect Reima Pietilä.
In addition to the donation of her film collection, Pietilä, who died in 2009, bequeathed her entire art production, some 1400 works, to the Ateneum Art Museum in Helsinki. She also bequeathed her extensive film collection to students and scholars of film art. Aalto University’s Department of Film (ELO) received a video archive of nearly 10 000 films and an extensive collection of film literature.
Together with Pietilä, Tove Jansson donated part of her own art to the Tampere Art Museum in 1986, containing 1,009 works and 38 illustrations. The donation included original illustrations, sketches, art, and objects from Jansson’s books, as well as three-dimensional illustrations of the Moomins by Jansson, Pietilä, and their friend Pentti Eistola. Jansson and Pietilä also added to the collection later.
In 1991, the couple donated the Klovharun island cottage to the Pellinge Hembygdsförening (a local heritage association). Today, the cottage is rented out during the summer months as an artist’s residence, except for one annual open house week at the end of July.
