Tuulikki Pietilä

Tuulikki Pietilä (born 18 February 1917) is a Finnish graphic artist and professor. She is one of the most influential people in Finnish graphic arts whose work has been shown in numerous art exhibitions. She also worked as a teacher in the Finnish art academy school for many years. More recently, she has trained graphic artists and written instructional books about graphic arts. She was born in Seattle, Washington.

Pietilä began her studies in the Turku drawing school, which she attended from 1933 to 1936, and went on to study at the drawing school of the Finnish art association (1936-1940), the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm (1945-1949) and the Fernand Léger art academy in Paris (1949-1953). During her studies, she met her future life partner Tove Jansson; [ [http://www.zein.se/ing-marie/mumintrollen.htm Tove Janssons mumintroll] sv icon] they collaborated on many works and projects.

Among the most popular of her works are the Moomin works. These were created in collaboration with Pentti Eistola and are now exhibited at the Moomin museum in Tampere. Additionally, Jansson's and Pietilä's travels and summers spent together on the Klovharu island in Pellinki have been captured on several hours of film, shot by Pietilä. Several documentaries have been made of this footage, the latest being "Haru, yksinäinen saari" ("Haru, the lonely island") (1998) and "Tove ja Tooti Euroopassa" ("Tove and Tooti in Europe") (2004).

The first exhibition of Pietilä's work was in Turku in 1935. Her first private exhibition was in 1951. She has participated in the Purnu group's summer exhbitions since 1967, with a retroactive exhibition in 1986. She has also participated in several exhibitions abroad. Pietilä has gained well-deserved praise for her work; she was awarded the Pro Finlandia medal in 1963 and the title of professor in 1982.

Pietilä is known to have inspired the energetic figure Tooticky in Jansson's Moomin books. The architect Reima Pietilä was Tuulikki Pietilä's brother.

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