A spectacular book showing life and work of the Finnish icon from an unknown perspective with around 150 illustrations and well researched texts.Tom of Finland has became the most famous and influential Finnish artist of the 20th century. Born Touko Laaksonen in 1920, his iconic depiction of self-confident and life-affirming gayness gave decisive impulses to the international gay movements from the 1960s onwards. But although we clearly associate his portrayals of sensual and powerful cowboys, farm hands, soldiers and leathermen with the USA, Tom of Finland's rise to gay icon received the game-changing impetus neither in his native Finland nor in the USA. It was, of all places, the city of Hamburg and Tom's friendship with key exponents of the local gay scene in the early 1970s that helped him to his first exhibition ever.He even created a grand mural for the legendary "Tom's Bar", until today the only one legitimately named after him. Regular commissions to design posters and ads for gay events in Hamburg allowed him to launch his artistic career after quitting his day job as advertising executive, and led to the creation of the most extensive private collection of his drawings to date. Galerie Judin is now devoting an exhibition and a comprehensive publication to these seminal, but thus far little researched years, the art they generated and the friendships they formed. The book includes texts by Juerg Judin, Pay Matthis Karstens, Kati Mustola and Alice Delage, conversations with Durk Dehner and Michael P. Hartleben - and a facsimile of the artist's German travel diary from 1955.

Tuoko Laaksonen, also known as Tom of Finland (1920-1991), was an iconic and provocative artist who rose to cult status in the international gay community and beyond for his work celebrating gay archetypes and masculinity during a time when being gay was taboo. Created in partnership with the Tom of Finland Estate, Tom of Finland: The Official Life and Work of a Gay Hero is a beautifully detailed visual biography full of never or rarely seen documents from his archive. The text was completed just a few months before the death of the artist and was fully approved by him--making this book the only 100% approved biography of this gay legend responsible for creating the muscled, mustachioed gay archetype of the 1960s and '70s. With an extensive biography, and suggestive photos and illustrations, Tom of Finland: The Official Life and Work of a Gay Hero brings to life the icon whose erotic illustrations of men influenced many artists, including Robert Mapplethorpe and Bruce Weber.

All 26 episodes of the Kake comic serial have been collected in one volume--a reflection of a time when gay men were men, sex was carefree, and everyone wore a big, thick, mustache.

An immersive glimpse into the private, domestic world of one of the twentieth century’s most revolutionary artists. Nestled in a leafy, residential section of Los Angeles is the house where Tom of Finland (Touko Laaksonen, 1920–1991) lived and worked during the last decade of his life. It is an extraordinary place—part shrine, part haven, part art-historical archive, and part utopian collective. Still occupied by the men who resided there with Tom and dedicated themselves to preserving his legacy, the house serves as a living tribute to the artist’s astonishing oeuvre and his radical vision of unapologetic homoerotic sexuality. Offered to the reader as an intimate view of the man behind the hypermasculine imagery, the book moves from art-filled room to art-filled room, dining room to dungeon. Almost every surface of the house is covered in work made by Tom himself, or by those he influenced and inspired. For additional insight, Martyn Thompson’s revelatory photographs are paired with rarely seen preparatory sketches and unfinished drawings. Together, the compelling images place Tom’s work in an entirely new light, inviting readers to explore a hidden world of dreams and desire—the world of Tom of Finland.

In the face of Soviet invasion in 1939–40, and once again in 1941–44, the armies raised by Finland – a tiny nation of only 4 million people astonished the world by their effective resistance. At the end of both these campaigns – the Winter War, and the Continuation War – the fiercely patriotic defiance of vastly stronger Soviet forces by Marshal Mannerheim's soldiers won their country a unique prize: although forced to accept harsh terms, Finland was never occupied by the Red Army, and retained its independence. This book explains and illustrates, for the first time in English, the organization, uniforms, equipment and tactics of Finland's defenders.

In this unique collection of black and white photography, acclaimed artist Gruenholtz has accomplished something very rare in male erotica. In the style of a classic fine-art photo documentarist, he captures the fascinating world of gay adult entertainment with virtuosity and sensitivity. His beautiful "behind-the-scenes" photographs, simultaneously frank and lyrical, constitute a compelling long-form portrait of Michael Lucas and his models over the course of an unprecedented year-long creative journey. Shot on location in New York, Fire Island, Puerto Vallarta and Barcelona.

Stand at attention with this pocket-sized army of free, proud, masculine fantasy men committed to pleasure and male camaraderie. With multi-panel comics and single-panel drawings and paintings, as well as personal photographs, sketches, and reference images, The Little Book of Tom: Military Men celebrates the artist's most iconic vision of...