Artist of the Week: Tom of Finland

Tom of Finland (born as Touko Laaksonen, 8th of May 1920 in Kaarina, Finland) was a Finnish artist who became known for his homoerotic and explicit art as well as his influence on the gay culture. Tom of Finland’s utterly masculine characters of sea men, motorcyclists, rough Nordic males as well as men in leather created a sort of stereotype. His best known work is the cartoon “Kake” - a straight-forward, humorous character on his sexual adventure. I have the honour of owning one original issue of “Kake”. Lucky me =)

Tom of Finland depicted different styles and attitudes in his art, from gentle gay portraits to explicit sexual interaction. He was also intrigued by sadomasochism, boots/leather and military men. In his earlier days, he tried to draw women too - but like many artist he failed to bring them to life and they seemed like male bodies with breasts. Even the great Michelangelo had the same problems – his female figures are rather masculine and manly & the anatomy of a woman is not there. Tom of Finland’s passions laid in the male body and at it, he did his best work.

Tom of Finland himself has admitted in a documentary “Daddy and the Muscle Academy” that he didn’t have the passion for drawing women and that what he drew he also found interesting and/or arousing to himself. The documentary was released in 1991, directed by Ilppo Pohjola.

When Tom of Finland started to draw images for Physique Pictorial Magazine, everything had to be hidden in the poses or in the eyes, in the gestures. Things had to be tidy as the society was not yet ready to embrace the homoerotic art.

Tom of Finland also lived during the time when nude photography and photographing techniques in general were taking big leaps forward, so he found himself in a new position - he had to compete with photographs taken of real nude men. This enhanced his drawing skills and technique, the drawings became almost like photographs.

The proportions of Tom’s men were always exaggerated. The men would have very strong chin line, big muscles, big nipples, wide shoulders and very thin waist – not to mention the size of his male characters penis which grew bigger and bigger. This was not a reflection of his own taste or a reflection of gay culture, it was also a competition tactic. He had polished his drawing skills to the limit: the next step was to make everything “bigger and better” than in real life.

Tom of Finland used both live models and photographs of models to create his art. Many gay men went to him, to get their own portraits done in the Tom of Finland style. I personally tried to imitate Tom's way of drawing at one time. I tried to find the technique. It was very hard to do it and I can honestly say, I didn't even come close to the original. But it was educational. I can't say enough about this man's drawing skills: he is simply one of the best artist I have ever encountered. I have nothing but admiration for him.

Tom of Finland is one of the most internationally known Finnish artist to date. Tom of Finland died on November 7th, 1991.

P.S. I left the most provocative art work out of this post, but if you are not familiar with Tom of Finland’s work, just Google and you’ll find them.