“AllTogether” | Sultan, The Hun and Victor Arimondi

AllTogether features artists from the Tom of Finland Foundation collections.

SULTAN (B. 1923 D. 2003, Briton)
Sultan (born John Darcy Nobel) created erotic artwork and was an early activist in the early gay rights movement in New York in the 1960s. He assisted Robert Clement in founding The Church of The Beloved Disciple, which was the first church to reach out to the gay and lesbian communities in New York. He is known for his pioneering work as curator of dolls and toys at the Museum of the City of New York. Sultan’s Salon’s library at TOM House is named after him.

THE HUN (B. 1938 D. 2019, American)
The Hun (born Bill Schmeling), was an artist known for his explicit, homoerotic fetish illustrations and comics. The Hun began producing work in the 1960s, creating work for Physique Pictorial and other beefcake magazines, initially under the artist name Torro. The Hun had a wonderfully rich relationship with Tom during the 1980s when they lived in Los Angeles, CA. They set up artist salons in each of their homes, and it was a wonderful coming together, full of sharing their practices and their own life experiences. Later after Tom had passed, Tom of Finland Company proceeded with a book on a collection of The Hun’s works, The Hun Book. In 2002, The Hun was inducted
into Tom of Finland Foundation’s Artist Hall of Fame. He passed away on 12th September 2019.

VICTOR ARIMONDI (B. 1942 D. 2001, Italian)
Victor Arimondi was a photographer and model who lived and worked in Europe before moving to the U.S.A. in the late 1970s. His early fashion photography, his portraits of Grace Jones and other artists, and his male nudes photographed in New York and San Francisco captured the pre-AIDS culture of the 1970s and early 1980s. Arimondi’s later work documented homeless individuals in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood and the toll of the AIDS epidemic on the city. In the summer of 2001, Arimondi succumbed to HIV disease.

Discover more AllTogether artists

The exhibition tells the individual stories of the artists. At the same time, the exhibition locates parallels, interactions, and influences between Tom of Finland Foundation, Tom’s aesthetic impact, and the community of artists that have formed throughout the years around them…View

Published: 12th May 2022

Categorised in: Art Offering, Events