TOM OF FINLAND

Early Years

Touko Laaksonen was born in Kaarina on 8 May 1920 (May in Finnish is “Toukokuu”). His parents were teachers and raised young Touko surrounded by art, music and literature. He could play the piano and was drawing comic strips by the time he was five. At the same age, Laaksonen spied on a muscular, farm-labourer neighbour. In 1939, he took courses in marketing and advertising, but was conscripted into the army in 1940. After the war, he worked as a commercial artist, and away from the office he began to draw detailed, erotic images of labourers, as well as the uniformed men after whom he had lusted during the conflict. He also used found imagery, adding moustaches and other elements to heteronormative depictions of men.

Tom of Finland: Artworks

By 1956, Laaksonen was working at an advertising agency when a friend suggested he send his secret drawings to US muscle magazine Physique Pictorial. He signed them “Tom”, and became Tom of Finland. The spring 1957 edition of Physique Pictorial featured a Tom of Finland drawing of lumberjacks on its cover. But while his drawings were in demand, he wasn’t financially able to quit his advertising job until 1973, at which point he worked full-time on the photorealistic, erotic, bold-lined and delicately shaded drawings that brought his uncensored sexual fantasies not only to life but to a worldwide audience. Tom’s draughtsmanship and artistic skills combined to create an extensive, expressive body of work where masculine figures joyfully enjoyed intimacy.

• The Kake series (1968–1986) comprised 26 comics featuring Kake, a moustachioed, tight T-shirted leatherman who travelled the world on his motorbike enjoying liberated, mutually satisfying sex in stories including Highway Patrol and Greasy Rider. Kake’s aesthetic inspired a specific gay male look during the 1970s and the comics earned Tom of Finland an international fan base.
• Another comic-book favourite was Pekka, who went on a series of sexually explicit adventures such as Circus in 1975, where he enjoyed sexual encounters with the members of a circus, including a pair of trapeze artists called The Flying F*ckers.
• Following his emphysema diagnosis in 1988, medication caused Tom of Finland’s hand to tremble and he was unable to keep making his signature detailed drawings. He switched to pastel and created a series of nudes, which he produced until very close to his death in 1991.

Select Solo Exhibitions

• Before the Men, The Visitors Centre, Fire Island Pines (2025)
• Beryl Cook / Tom of Finland, Studio Voltaire, London (2024)
• Bold Journey, Kiasma, Helsinki (2023)
• Pen and Ink 1965–1989, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles (2021)
• Reality and Fantasy, The World of Tom of Finland, Gallery X, Tokyo (2020)
• The Man Behind Tom of Finland: Loves and Lives, Salon Dahlmann, Berlin (2017)
• Early Work 1944 –1972, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles (2015)
• Tom of Finland: Public and Private, Antebellum, Hollywood (2011)
• Tom of Finland, Schlechtriem Brothers, Berlin (2009)
• Coming of Age, Charles Cowles, New York City (2006)
• Tom of Finland, Galeria Espacio Minimo, Madrid (2005)
• The Most Famous Finn, Finnish Institute, Paris (1999)
• A Memorial Retrospective, Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation, New York City (1992)
• Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland (1991)
• Feature Inc., New York City (1988)
• Rob Gallery, Amsterdam (1984)
• Galerie Jansen, Berlin (1984)
• Score, Los Angeles (1982)
• Rob Gallery, Amsterdam (1980)
• Feyway Studios, San Franisco (1978)
• The Revolt Press Bookstore, Hamburg (1973)

Select Group Exhibitions

• Tom’s Stretch, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles (2026)
• Erotic City, Eric Firestone Gallery, New York City (2025)
• Shadow-Ban, Showstudio Gallery, London (2024)
• Imperfect Paradise, Barbati Gallery, Venice (2023)
• Desire Flows like the Sea: an LGTBQI look at maritime heritage, Museu Marítim De Barcelona, Barcelona (2021)
• Art & Porn, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Aarhus (2019) (and touring)
• Get’cha Head in the Game, The Naughton Gallery, Queen’s University, Belfast (2017)
• #Rawhide, Venus Over Manhattan, New York City (2015)
• Summer Camp, Schroeder, Romero and Shredder, New York City (2012)
• Tom of Finland and then some, Feature Inc., New York City (2010)
• Liverpool Biennial (2008)
• Made in California, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2000)
• Summer Group Exhibition, Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation, New York City (1992)
• Couturier Gallery, Los Angeles (1990)
• Naked Eyes, International Gay and Lesbian Archives, West Hollywood (1986)

Further Reading

• The Tom of Finland Foundation
• The Tom of Finland Foundation Instagram
• Artist profile page at David Kordansky Gallery
• 2020 story from The New York Times about Tom of Finland’s influence on other artists

Tom of Finland FAQs

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