'Seaman'
Artist's Hand Towel
'Tom of Finland: Bold Journey' was recently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland (2023).
Also, 'Tom of Finland: Pen and Ink 1965 – 1989' was recently on view at the David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2021).
In addition, 'Tom of Finland: The Darkroom' was recently on view at Fotografiska Tallinn, Estonia (2020). This exhibition was the first to focus on Tom’s photographs, in combination with his drawings, showing his artistic process. The Exhibition was produced by Fotografiska in collaboration with Tom of Finland Foundation on the occasion of the artist's birth 100 years ago.
Touko Laaksonen, best known by his pseudonym Tom of Finland was a Finnish artist notable for his stylized homoerotic fetish art and his influence on late twentieth century gay culture. He has been called the "most influential creator of gay pornographic images" by cultural historian Joseph W. Slade.
Over the course of four decades he produced some 3500 illustrations, mostly featuring men with exaggerated primary and secondary sex traits with tight or partially removed clothing.
New York's Museum of Modern Art has acquired several examples of Laaksonen's artwork for its permanent collection. In 2006, MoMA in New York accepted five Tom of Finland drawings as part of a much larger gift from The Judith Rothschild Foundation. 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.”
Finlayson is a Finnish textile manufacturer. The company was founded in 1820 when James Finlayson, a Scottish engineer, established a cotton mill in Tampere, Finland. The company manufactures various interior textiles and sleep products under the brand names Finlayson and Familon. The company has stores and retailers in Finland, Russia, and the Baltic countries, as well as an online store.Over a short period in the 1800's Finlayson became the largest industrial enterprise in Scandinavia. This growth was based on unique courage and open-mindedness. The company's weaving hall had the honor of switching on the first electric lights in the Nordic. The company had its own hospital, daycare center, school, fire brigade, pharmacy and nursing home. The company even had its own social security system at a time when no one had yet heard of such a thing. More significantly, Finlayson was the first company in Finland to offer women an opportunity to live an independent life: an apartment and livelihood. Women's status in Finnish society is evident in the fact that in 1906 Finland became the first country in Europe to grant women the right to vote.
His work has been featured in many group exhibitions, including most recently The Foundation of the Museum: MOCA’s Collection, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (2019) and Camp: Notes on Fashion, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (2019).
His drawings are in the public collections of Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Portland Museum of Art, OR; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; Art Institute of Chicago, IL; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, among many other institutions.
The Tom of Finland Foundation, dedicated to preserving Tom's legacy and supporting erotic art since 1984, operates out of the Tom of Finland House (TOM House), the artist's former shared residence and now a Historic-Cultural Monument in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA.