Tom of Finland, the cult of Leather

Skira has published a volume dedicated to the drawings of the master of homoerotic art Tom of Finland who made the gay leather aesthetic iconic, transforming it into a pop language

TOM OF FINLAND Untitled, 1977, Graphite on paper, © Tom of Finland Foundation

In the history of fetish fashion there have been two fundamental junctions: the first between 1870 and 1900 when Victorian society went crazy for silk and velvet which were highly eroticized, the second peak undoubtedly took place about a century later, between 1970 and 2000, with the riot of the skin. Yet, in the Queer scene, the infatuation with this material was already prevalent in the 1950s. Today, leather fetish clothing is worn by men at sex clubs, parties, Gay Pride and dating, but many have begun to sneak leather accessories into their everyday wardrobe.

Although fetish clothing is no longer a unique expression of the Queer world, there is a widely recognized parallel between the increased visibility of Gay and Lesbian identities and superficial fetishes in contemporary culture, transforming something that was initially the prerogative of sexual activities limited to the scene, later seen more extensively in popular culture or in any case transcended by luminaries. After all, the skin reveals something primordial, a primitive, animal protection and also adds weight to the body: the opposite of something light, diaphanous and feminine.

The Finnish artist Tom of Finland (1920-1991), with his work has done nothing but bring out and make accessible as in a sweetened storybook leather fetish fashion and related Gay male identities, especially those related to BDSM sexual practices.

Tom of Finland was the perfect eyewitness to document the birth of communities linked to uniform fetishes; in 1939 he was enlisted in the Finnish army, frequenting the environment of the port among sailors, workers and officers. The real leather community emerged for the first time after the Second World War, when the military found it difficult to reintegrate into traditional society. For many of these men, military service had allowed them to explore homosexual desire for the first time. When the war ended, a void was left by the absence of homosexual sex and same-sex friendships. Instead, many found refuge in the communities of bikers who, as a subculture, were the first to embrace leather as a stretch, electing it to a real aesthetic.

The freshly printed volume published by Skira Tom Finland: An Imaginary Sketchbook edited by Juerg Judin and Pay Matthis Karstens through the artist’s extraordinary pencil stroke shows the genesis of those bodies and even in the most openly pornographic illustrations there is always an element of subversion in the images; the scenarios, in which the apparently macho and authoritarian figures abandon themselves shamelessly to group sex, can be observed with excitement but also with humor. These are designs that ridiculed the authorities, and affirmed the pride of a minority that was ostracized at the time. 

 

 

The art of Tom of Finland has fueled both the sexual fantasies and the aesthetics of many gay men. The fetish for police and army uniforms and the total leather look worn by personalities such as Freddie Mercury, Frankie Goes to Hollywood or Glenn Hughes of the Village People, were a direct emanation of his Finnish imagery that over the decades has become a precise semiotics to the point of being used as a quote far beyond the gay world and related practices.

 

TOM OF FINLAND Untitled, 1975, Graphite on paper, © Tom of Finland Foundation

 

The whole of fashion, starting from the big brands to fast-fashion, has for some time vampirized the codes of the imaginary leather that originally belonged to the homosexual community, still returning it today in outfits that are paraded in practically all the great menswear brands.

Glenn Martens, creative director of Diesel was particularly inspired by the artistic legacy of Tom of Finland for the Fall Winter 2022 season, and the brand supported the interesting AllTogether project, a series of exhibitions curated by Tom of Finland Foundation and The Community that debuted at Studio Cannaregio in Venice during the opening of the Biennale, showing works of art and photographs that document the inestimable contribution that queer art by artists such as Tom of Finland has helped to create the codes of the contemporary, transformed the fetish for the skin more than a trend, into a lifestyle.

 

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READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE BY RICCARDO CONTI

 

Published: 19th May 2022

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