Laaksonen, Touko

(1920 Kaarina, Finland-1991) (USA);

   aka pseudonym Tom of Finland

   Homoerotic illustrator. Studied art at a college in Helsinki. Began as a male physique artist, then in the late 1950s his work became more explicitly homoerotic. By the early 1970s he had produced over 600 sexual drawings, mostly in pencil. Known for his heavily muscled, wasp-waisted young men with enormous genitals in a wide variety of sexual situations. Produced both single drawings and story series. Well-known in Europe, copies of early work circulated in the USA.

   Reproductions: At the party; Falkon 1972: 213 . Black and white; Falkon 1972: 134 [B]. Cocksucking collaborator; Falkon 1972: 177 [B]. Comparison; Falkon 1972: 113 [B]. Dare devils; Falkon, 1972; p. 76 [B]. Dark alley; Falkon 1972: 116 [B]. Discovered; Falkon 1972: 77 [B]. Feel this; Falkon 1972: 108 [B]. Get in line; Falkon 1972: 144 [B]. Giant stud; Falkon 1972: 145 [B]. Hot fuck gang; Falkon 1972: 184 [B]. [From Kake, comic-strip hero]; 1975: Neret, 1994 pp. 728-731 [B]. Interruption; Falkon 1972: 214 [B]. [Kneeling man performing analingus on nude man in boots]; 1979; Neret, 1994: p. 735 . Lazy logger; Falkon 1972: p. 73 [B]. Leather buddies; Falkon 1972; p. 72 [B]. Leather spot; Falkon 1972: 166 [B]. Lumberjacks; 1988; pencil; Neret, 1993: p. 27 [B]. Magnificent cop; Falkon 1972: 178 [B]. Magnificent cyclist; Falkon 1972: 164 [B]. Mike; And still more meatmen: pp. 89-92 [B]. No title [lumberjacks]; 1975; gouache; Olley, 2005 p. 193 [B]. [Nude man surrounded by leather booted legs]; 1981; Neret, 1994: p. 734 [C]. Park; Falkon 1972: 78 [B]. Perfection; 1990; lithograph; Olley, 2005: p. 192 [B]. Pole and cycle; Falkon 1972: 117 [B]. [Sailor and leather suited man]; 1986; Neret, 1994: p. 733 [C]. Sailor's riot; Falkon 1972: p. 75 [B]. Sauna-bar; c1966; Webb, 1975: 235 [B]. Skin and leather; Falkon 1972: 176 [B]. Tattoo shop; Falkon 1972: 74 [B]. Untitled [barn scene]; 1975; Neret, 2004: p. 172 [B]. Untitled [man performing fellatio]; 1975: Neret, 2004: p. 177 [B]. Untitled [man chained, standing sex]; 1975; Neret, 2004: p. 175 [B]. Untitled [man being forcibly stripped]; Neret, 2004: p. 174 [B]. Untitled [man mounted on a bench]; 1975; Neret, 2004: p. 176 [B]. Untitled [uniformed policeman being sucked and annally entered by leather wearing men]; Neret, 2004: p. 173 [B]. Whipped and weighted; Falkon 1972: 186 [B]. White and black; Falkon 1972: 135 [B]. Wild party; Falkon 1972: 148 [B]. With their boots on; Falkon 1972: 127 [B].

   [b]Source: The best of Tom of Finland (Los Angeles: A.M.G. Studios, c1970); Micha Ramakers, Dirty pictures: Tom of Finland, masculinity, and homosexuality (New York: Stonewall Inn Editions, 2001); David Reed, "Repression and exaggeration: the art of Tom of Finland," Christopher Street 4, 8 (April 1980): pp. 16-21.