A typical Tom of Finland hunk

Tom of Finland (May 8, 1920 – November 7, 1991) (born Touko Laaksonen in Kaarina, Finland) was a fetish artist notable for his stylized homoerotic art and his influence on late twentieth century gay culture. Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (129th in leap years). ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 3 - Babe Ruth is traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at that time. ... November 7 is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 54 days remaining. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Province Western Finland Region Finland Proper Sub-region Turku City manager Martti Ilmonen Official languages Finnish Area  - total  - land ranked 412nd 60. ... A fetish artist is an artist who depicts people in fetishistic situations. ... Homosexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by esthetic attraction, romantic love, or sexual desire exclusively for another of the same sex. ... See labrys, black triangle. ...

Life and career

At 19, Laaksonen moved from his native Kaarina to Helsinki to attend art school. It was here where he first began to sketch his first homoerotic drawings, based on images of masculine Finnish laborers he had seen from an early age. Finland, however, soon became embroiled in the Winter War with the USSR, and then formally involved in World War II, and Touko was inducted into the Finnish Army. After the war, Laaksonen returned to civilian life and worked in the advertising industry, continuing to draw on the side. In 1957, he submitted some of his homoerotic drawings to the American magazine Physique Pictorial for publication under the pseudonym of "Tom of Finland" to avoid scrutiny in his home country. Allegedly, Laaksonen chose "Tom" as it resembles his birthname Touko more than any other English name. Province Western Finland Region Finland Proper Sub-region Turku City manager Martti Ilmonen Official languages Finnish Area  - total  - land ranked 412nd 60. ... Founded 1550 Country Finland Province Southern Finland Region Uusimaa Sub-region Helsinki Area[1] - Of which land - Rank 185. ... Art school is a colloquial term for any educational institution (whether secondary, post-secondary/undergraduate, or graduate/postgraduate) with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially graphic design, illustration, painting, photography, and sculpture. ... Homosexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by esthetic attraction, romantic love, or sexual desire exclusively for another of the same sex. ... Combatants  Finland  USSR Commanders Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Kliment Voroshilov, later Semyon Timoshenko Strength 250,000 men 30 tanks 130 aircraft 1,000,000 men 3,000 tanks 3,800 aircraft[1][2] Casualties 22,830 dead 43,557 wounded 1,000 captured (at least) 126,875 dead or missing... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... The Finnish Army (Finnish: Maavoimat) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Laaksonen's work soon garnered attention from the gay community at large, and by 1973, he was both publishing erotic comic books and infiltrating the mainstream art world. "Tom" was best known for works that focused on homomasculine archetypes such as lumberjacks, motorcycle policemen, sailors, businessmen, bikers, and leathermen. His most prominent comic series is the "Kake" comics, which included these archetypal characters in abundance. 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Eroticism is an aesthetic focused on sexual desire, especially the feelings of anticipation of sexual activity. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Homomasculinity is a term used to describe a subculture of gay men who self-identify with the imagery, culture, and gender role of what is normally seen as traditional, straight male masculinity. Homomasculine men may demonstrate traits that include, but are not limited to, an interest or participation in sports... Lumberjack is the traditional name of a person, almost always a man, who makes his living cutting down trees. ... A motorcycle is a two-wheeled vehicle powered by an engine. ... For the band, see The Police. ... A sailor is a member of the crew of a ship or boat. ... Set out below is an annotated listing of corporate leaders, who are or have been the head of large or successful business enterprises, or who are otherwise well known for their commercial acumen, listed alphabetically by last name. ... A Biker is someone who rides a motorcycle (motorbike). ... Leathermen can refer to: Leatherman for the tool leather subculture This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Kake may refer to: Kake, Alaska Kake, Ethiopia Kake, Hiroshima Kake, a character of Tom of Finland KAKE may also refer to KAKE-TV, channel 10 serving Wichita, Kansas (and most of the states outlying areas). ...

Exhibitions of Laaksonen's work began in the 1970s and in 1973 he gave up his full-time job at the Helsinki office of international advertising firm McCann-Erickson. "Since then I've lived in jeans and lived on my drawings" is how he described the transition in his lifestyle which occurred during this period. Exhibition is a word with several meanings. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Founded 1550 Country Finland Province Southern Finland Region Uusimaa Sub-region Helsinki Area[1] - Of which land - Rank 185. ... Billboards and street advertising in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, (2005) Advertising is drawing public attention to goods and services by promois performed through a variety of media. ... McCann Erickson Worldwide is the worlds largest and most globally experienced advertising agency network. ... Blue Jeans Jeans are trousers traditionally made from denim, but may also be made from a variety of fabrics including cotton and corduroy. ... Drawing is the act of defining (or delineating) the outlines of a figure against a background, using any of a wide variety of tools and techniques. ...

In 1979, Laaksonen founded the Tom of Finland Company to collect and distribute his work. This company exists to the present day, and has expanded into a non-profit foundation dedicated to collecting, preserving, and exhibiting homoerotic artwork. In the late 1990s, the company introduced a fashion line based on the works of "Tom", which covers a wide array of looks besides the typified cutoff-jeans-and-jacket style of his drawings. The fashion line balances the original homoeroticism of the drawings with mainstream fashion culture, and their runway shows occur in many of the venues during the same times as other fashion companies. This page refers to the year 1979. ... Look up Foundation on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Foundation may refer to: A type of makeup. ... The Mona Lisa Although today the word art usually refers to the visual arts, the concept of what art is has continuously changed over centuries. ... See also 1990s, the band Germans dancing on the Berlin Wall in late 1989, the symbol of the cold war divide falls down as the world unites in the 1990s. ... Homoeroticism refers to same-sex love and desire, most especially as it is depicted or manifested in the visual arts and literature. ...

Before his death, "Tom" was the subject of the documentary Daddy and the Muscle Academy - The Art, Life, and Times of Tom of Finland.

The European arthouse publisher Taschen has published various collections of his work including three 'Retrospective' Anthologies. Taschen is an art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. ... An anthology is a collection of literary works, originally of poems, but in recent years its usage has broadened to be applied to collections of short stories and comic strips. ...

Controversy and artistic appreciation

During his lifetime and beyond Laaksonen's work drew admiration and disdain from different quarters of the artistic community. Laaksonen developed a friendship with gay photographer Robert Mapplethorpe whose work depicting sado-masochism and fetish iconography was also subject to controversy. Robert Mapplethorpe (November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, famous for his large-scale, highly-stylized black & white portraits, photos of flowers and male nudes. ... Flogging demonstration at Folsom Street Fair 2004. ... This article concerns the concept of fetishism in anthropology. ... Iconography usually refers to the design or creation of images and more specifically to the historical study of art which aims at the identification, description and the interpretation of the content of images. ...

A controversial area of work were drawings eroticising men dressed in Nazi uniforms. Forming a small part of his overall work, from an early stage, their sensitivity has led them to be omitted from most recent anthologies of his work. Laaksonen later disavowed this work and was at pains to dissociate himself and his work from fascist or racist ideologies. Tom also depicted a large number of black men in his drawings, and there is no suggestion of any racial or political message in the context in which they appear. Uniforms of the SS Ordertroops SS uniform or the Schutzstaffel uniform was one of the uniforms that was worn during Nazi Germany by the military and other ranking individuals. ... Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ... 1. ...

There have been mixed views within the art critic community about Laaksonen's contribution. His closely detailed drawing technique has led to him being described as a 'master with a pencil' while in contrast a reviewer for Dutch newspaper Het Parool described his work as 'illustrative but without expressivity'. Het Parool is an Amsterdam-based daily newspaper. ...

There is considerable argument over whether his depiction of 'supermen' (male characters with huge sexual organs and muscles) is facile and distasteful or whether there is a deeper complexity in the work which plays with and subverts those stereotypes.

In either case, there remains a large constituency who admire the work on a purely utilitarian basis, as described by Rob Meyer, owner of a leathershop and art gallery in Amsterdam, 'These works are not conversation pieces, they're masturbation pieces'. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. ... Amsterdam Location Flag Country Netherlands Province North Holland Population 741,329 (1 August 2006) Demonym Amsterdammer Coordinates Website www. ...

Cultural impact and legacy

Arguably Laaksonen's work revived and commercialised an underground leather counter-culture which emerged after World War II and reached its height in the late 1970s and early 1980s before the emergence of AIDS in the gay community. The Leather Pride flag, which has become a symbol of the BDSM and fetish subculture. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS or Aids) is a collection of symptoms and infections in humans resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). ... The idea of a gay community is complex and can be very controversial. ...

The apparel, styling, and demeanour adopted by large numbers of gay men during that period appear to be derived directly from his work (for example, Glenn Hughes from the Village People ). Although the prevalence of this "look" has declined since the mid-1980s, Laaksonen's work continues to be used extensively in gay publications, bars, clubs, and online communities who associate with its erotic subject matter. Glenn Hughes (July 18, 1950 - March 4, 2001) was the original Biker character in the group Village People. ... Village People were a disco band of the late 1970s. ... Eroticism is an aesthetic focused on sexual desire, especially the feelings of anticipation of sexual activity. ...

The cap-leather-jacket-moustache combination became known in the pop culture of Western world as a visual stereotype of gay men (see Police Academy movie series). A cap is a form of headgear. ... Modern leather-working tools Leather is a material created through the tanning of hides, pelts and skins of animals, primarily cows. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Coat (clothing). ... Edgar Allan Poe had a simple moustache. ... Popular culture, or pop culture, is the vernacular (peoples) culture that prevails in a modern society. ... The term Western World or the West can have multiple meanings depending on its context. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Police Academy is a long-running series of comedy films, the first six of which were made in the 1980s. ...

In 1999, an exhibition took place at the Institut Culturel Finlandais (Finnish Cultural Centre) in Paris. In 2004, New York's Museum of Modern Art inducted several examples of Tom's artwork into its permanent collection. 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ... Exhibition may refer to: Exhibition (scholarship), a small grant Worlds Fair Exhibition game, a friendly match Art exhibition Exhibition (equestrian), a sport involving horse and riders Science fair State fair Funfair Trade fair Xzibit See also Look up exhibition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Région ÃŽle-de-France Département Paris (75) Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Mayor Bertrand Delanoë  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Official language(s) English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... View across garden, in new MoMA building by Yoshio Taniguchi. ...

See also

• Beefcake magazines

Young Physique magazine, vol. ...

External links

• Tom of Finland Foundation