A look inside Tom of Finland’s sketchbook reveals more than a hard pencil

TOM OF FINLAND Untitled (preparatory drawing), 1987 © 1987 Tom of Finland Foundation

The Queer Finnish artist Tom of Finland (born Touko Laaksonen) died in 1991. But his iconic homoerotic drawings are as popular now as in the 1950s and ’60s — if not more so.

On 30th August, Skira releases Tom of Finland: An Imaginary Sketchbook. The 128-page book takes a step back from the super-polished illustrations you may be familiar with — presenting dozens of unfinished pencil drawings and preliminary sketches of the cowboys, cops, bikers, and studs who define Tom’s work.

An Imaginary Sketchbook has almost no text, save for an afterward by the book’s co-editors, Juerg Judin and Pay Matthis Karstens of Berlin’s Galerie Judin.

L- Tom of Finland: An Imaginary Sketchbook); R- TOM OF FINLAND Untitled (preparatory drawing), 1988, © 1988 Tom of Finland Foundation

“We intentionally didn’t do a forward, just an addendum,” Karstens told Queerty. “We wanted him to be taken seriously as an artist who doesn’t need explanation. Like, ‘Can we just appreciate what he’s doing before we talk about the message?’”

Karstens and Juden worked closely with Tom of Finland Foundation to pull highlights from a more extensive collection of Tom’s sketches, some of which appeared in public for the first time in a 2017 exhibition.

“We wanted to show a spectrum of what he drew and how he drew,” Karstens said. “Not just ones where every line is perfect. But drawings where you see the process and a bit of how TOM’s Man changed.”

READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE BY DAN AVERY

Published: 25th August 2022

Categorised in: News