The artist known as Tom of Finland would have turned 101 this year. A pioneer of LGBTQ and erotic arts, Tom of Finland not only pushed the boundaries of homoerotic art and censorship in the 1950s and 60s, but his images became intertwined with gay culture and the gay aesthetic of the 1970s until present day.
His stylized and exaggerated images of masculine men being joyfully erotic changed the way that many gay men saw themselves and their sexuality. He was sex-positive decades before the term was invented.
The importance of his work has progressively been recognized more and more in the late 20th into the 21st century. New York’s Museum of Modern Art has several pieces in their permanent collection. Solo exhibitions of his work have been hugely popular in galleries and museums from Tokyo to Stockholm, from Berlin to Madrid.
The trustee of The Judith Rothschild Foundation, Harvey S. Shipley Miller, said, “Tom of Finland is one of the five most influential artists of the twentieth century. As an artist he was superb, as an influence he was transcendent.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
In celebration of his birthday and Pride Month, Tom of Finland Vodka has created “Tom’s 101st Birthday Photo Competition and Charity Auction.” Ten finalists have been chosen from submissions by photographers and are showcased on the Tom of Finland Vodka Instagram page from June 11th through July 6th. Viewers can vote for their favorite image by commenting on the post with the word VOTE and #YourTomIsShowing. The image that receives the most votes will be the Audience Winner, while a Jury Winner will be chosen by a curated panel.
Each of the finalist photos will be framed and offered for auction from July 9th to July 23rd on CharityBuzz.com, with 100% of the proceeds benefitting Tom of Finland Foundation, which is dedicated to protecting and preserving erotic art, as well as promoting healthy, tolerant attitudes toward sexuality.
To see and vote the finalist photographs go to Instagram @tomoffinlandvodka
To raise money for Tom of Finland Foundation, bid on each of the finalist photographs on charitybuzz.com from July 9th to July 23rd.
Photo Credit: Gabriel Goldberg
Max
sexy
barryaksarben
I pick the first photo as the guy looks lie a porn star from the 70s who was amazing although I never got his name
Goforit
Ok, my 2 cents worth. The best photo composition, ie, lighting, layout, framing etc, is the one with the man wearing the sailors cap. The sexiest one is the black man staring straight at you, Yum!!! But the one that best depicts Tom’s original art is the two men facing each other with the handcuffs hanging down.
nm4047
@Soggyduck, Finland was an autonomous territory of Russia upto the end of it’s empire in 1917. Was a Grand Duchy prior to that was Swedish territory that was lost to russia in one of the many skirmishes over the centuries.
ryanss
It seems everybody has forgotten Tom of Finland was a nazi sympathizer… But it’s true. Go Google it.
Liquid Silver
@Chrisk: History and introspection are not most people’s strong points. 🙂
Chrisk
As was most of Finland at the time. It had more to do with being anti Soviet though.
Melvo
From Wikipedia On Tom of Finland –
“In my drawings I have no political statements to make, no ideology. I am thinking only about the picture itself. The whole Nazi philosophy, the racism and all that, is hateful to me, but of course I drew them anyway—they had the sexiest uniforms!”
SoggyDuck
In context, Finland was a supporter of the Nazi movement for the singular reason that they were against Russia. Russia, Finland’s next door neighbor to the East, longed to overtake the Finnish Peninsula for all the coastline it offered to the Baltic Sea. Russia has only Leningrad (St. Petersburg) with access to that sea and that port was, literally a swamp. So, it was for self preservationist reasons that all of Finland sided with the Reich’s side. They also constantly engaged in skirmishes with the Russians; the Finnish soldiers swooping in and out on skis, dressed in all white camouflage, like ghosts.
john.k
The Soviet Union attacked Finland in 1939. At that time Britain supported and provided supplies to the Finns. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 the British and then the Americans became allies of the Soviets. Finland, a small country, had no one else to turn to for help but the Germans. They were never ideologically supportive of Naziism.
john.k
I might add that their bravery and fighting skill enabled the Finns to stay out of the clutch of the Soviets after WWII unlike most of the other countries that were in the path of the Red Army. However they did lose a quarter of their pre-war territory to Russia.
WashDrySpin
Gay white culture does not want to acknowledge that they have been propping up white racists…one of the biggest is Chuck Holmes who started Falcon Studios.
Tom of Finland is yet another example of racism that white gays are comfortable embracing…look at how Dan Savage’s husband props it up…there is no way “intelligent” Dan Savage does not know about the nazi sympathizing…but it overlooked
gjg64
What’s this about Dan Savage and Terry? News to me.
Jim
I didn’t know Tom was a fascist.
I might like his art but as a human he was scum!
WashDrySpin
WOW, so your need to jerk off is more important than supporting a fascist…noted
I suppose you enjoy Woody Allen movies as well…or maybe you own a collection of Kevin Spacey films
Bosch
@WashDrySpin
He literally just called him scum. Choose your battles.
WashDrySpin
You are correct Bosch and I apologize to Jim
Liquid Silver
If you object, great. Or appreciate the art without appreciating the guy’s political leanings. Or understand the history and reasoning behind the political leanings. Your choice.
Personally, I think this is nicely artistic. I paint more than work with photography, but appreciate the contrasts of light and shadow.
WashDrySpin
First of all, the protagonist is Tom of Finland , the nom de plume of Touko Laaksonen, who had a particular political stance during World War II. He was a Nazi collaborator. He was a Nazi admirer. He fought with the Nazis against the Soviets.
Liquid Silver
Again, understanding the historical reasons behind this would be nice.
Or you could try to appreciate the art for what it is and take what you can from it. But that might teach you something you may not necessarily like.
Vince
WashDrySpin
Yes and most of his country did the same thing. Jesus Christ you’re thick in the head. Understand the times instead of just copy paste.
WashDrySpin
Finnish WWII troops participated in mass murders of Jews, new government report finds
Google the above and read an article about this.
The independent 248-page investigative report in English — commissioned by the Finnish government and released Friday — said 1,408 Finnish volunteers, most aged between 17 and 20 years old, served within the SS Panzer Division Wiking during 1941-43.
“It is very likely that they [volunteers] participated in the killing of Jews, other civilians and prisoners of war as part of the German SS troops,” said Jussi Nuorteva, director-general of the National Archives.
Vince
I suppose we should go after Italy too since they were Nazi sympathizers as well.
WashDrySpin
@Vince
Well you are not very intelligent…not the first time you are hearing this and won’t be the last…
No one is proposing to go after Finland therefore no one is going to go after Italy…see these are countries…
Now try to keep up Vince…because you are not intelligent
But if it is discovered that Fellini was a nazi sympathizer then YES he and his works should be denounced much like Laaksonen and his works
Vince
WashDrySpin
You just gave a history of how Finland was all up with the Nazi’s and even participated in the Genocide and by extension so was Tom of Finland in your not so veiled attempt at associating him with the murder of Jews. My point is that we can take anyone living in say Italy and say the same thing by your asinine analogy.
barryaksarben
The Finns fought the soviets as they invaded Finland and yes they fought alongside the nazis. WW2 produced many strange bedfellows. If you know anything about the times we, the USA aligned with the Soviet Union to fight the nazis. You seem to cherry pick your outrage. As for art so many so called great artists had troublesome lives. Piccasso has many detractors who say he worked with the nazis. The Nazis sent us into concentration camps AFTER using the brownshirts of Ernst Rohm which had a large gay contingent. I am not a huge fan of Tom of Finland but to attack people who like his art by accusing them of beating off and not caring is childish and offensive. Your comments would be taken seriously if you didnt attack people who may have a different idea than you do. I enjoy Roman Polanski movies and before you scream about it see the documentary “Roman Polanski – wanted and adored” to see how he was mistreated by our judicial system. THERE ARE ALWAYS TWO OR MORE SIDES TO ANY ARGUEMENT
john.k
1,408 volunteers were not representative of Finland. There were volunteer units from many European countries in the SS, including from occupied countries like Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands and Norway.
Fahd
I didn’t know about the Nazi part. For me it would be important to know whether he, himself,, participated in any Nazi crimes (should have been imprisoned and harshly judged) and whether or not he was rehabilitated after the war. There had to be plenty of Nazi sympathizers in the countries whose leaders aligned with the Nazis against the Communist Soviets. Many of these populations have gone through arduous and elaborate processes, i.e reeducation, reparations, etc., of coming to terms with their pasts; processes so extensive that they make the USA look like a nation of slavery deniers.
Were the murals in the Chicago bar Gold Coast drawn by Tom of Finland or were they by a “copycat” artist?
BigDavidO
First of all, to answer your specific question, the murals painted for the Gold Coast and IML were all done in “the style of Tom of Finland” by Ettiene, the artist partner of the bar owner and IML founder, both deceased.
The more complicated and nuanced issue is how we individually deal with the private lives of any artist in our appreciation of their work. The comment about slavery in the history of the US should be a reminder that “cancel culture” is not necessarily the best way to understand history and correcting wrongs that persist. One can appreciate Tom’s art for what it is and how it has motivated a genre of gay masculinity without blaming him for the death of Finnish Jews during Nazi occupation.
Fahd
@BigDavidO
Thanks for your reply – very much appreciated. The artist’s name Etienne clicked with me and made me also think again of Chuck Renslow; googled both names together and it’s all there. Etienne’s murals were bursting with sexuality – I remember admiring them. Also, thanks for acknowledging my comment.
Henreid
The difference between these photos and the illustrations created by Tom of Finland is that ToF would never hide men’s crotches, as most of these pictures do. Tom of Finland celebrated the penis, and that is one of the features that made his art significant.
Prowelsh56
LOL all the twinks that ranted about hairy chests and used the word ” ick” are drooling now. Excellent photography. Thankfully.
tjack47
Art. Artist.
ppp111
barryaksarben,
Wow. Thank you. I’m actually a fan of the artist (and Etienne) and agree with you that just because we like ToF’s work doesn’t make us insensitive to the plight of others. If I also recall a biography about the artist, he just loved uniforms. It didn’t go into detail about how he felt about each uniform and what it represented but he was at least honest in his perspective. If I remember correctly, he also found black men attractive as well. Just saying.
CaballodeFuego
A good example of stereotyped gay men…