Drawing - Mixed Media on Paper in the manner/style of Tom of Finland. Our definition of “In the manner/style of”: The auction house believes that the work is done in the manner or style of the named artist and possibly after their lifetime, but the actual authorship is unknown. Dimensions: 30.48 x 21 cm. Artist information: Touko Valio Laaksonen (8 May 1920 – 7 November 1991), known by the pseudonym Tom of Finland, was a Finnish artist who made stylized highly masculinized homoerotic art, and influenced late 20th-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 3,500 illustrations, mostly featuring men with exaggerated primary and secondary sex traits, wearing tight or partially removed clothing. In 1956 Laaksonen submitted drawings to the influential American magazine Physique Pictorial, which premiered the images in the 1957 Spring issue under the pseudonym Tom, as it resembled his given name Touko. In the Winter issue later that year, editor Bob Mizer coined the credit Tom of Finland. One of his pieces was featured on the Spring 1957 cover, depicting two log drivers at work with a third man watching them. Pulled from the Finnish mythology of lumberjacks representing strong masculinity, Laaksonen emphasized and privileged "homoerotic potentiality [...] relocating it in a gay context", a strategy repeated throughout his career. The post-World War II era saw the rise of the biker culture as rejecting "the reorganization and normalization of life after the war, with its conformist, settled lifestyle." Biker subculture was both marginal and oppositional and provided postwar gay men with a stylized masculinity that included rebelliousness and danger. This was in contrast to the then-prevailing stereotypes of gay man as an effeminate sissy, as seen in vaudeville and films going back to the first years of the industry. Laaksonen was influenced by images of bikers as well as artwork of George Quaintance and Etienne, among others, that he cited as his precursors, "disseminated to gay readership through homoerotic physique magazines" starting in 1950. Laaksonen's drawings of bikers and leathermen capitalized on the leather and denim outfits which differentiated those men from mainstream culture and suggested they were untamed, physical, and self-empowered. This in contrast with the mainstream, medical and psychological sad and sensitive young gay man who is passive. Provenance: Private Collection, Los Angeles. Lots that do not carry established documented provenance, nor any past auction record are described in this catalog as "in the manner/style of". Pieces are being sold "As Is". No additional information regarding provenance will be provided after the auction. It is fully bidders' responsibility to check, read the description well and review the photos of this item or lot before bidding. Customers must agree to purchase our item acknowledging the descriptions presented. Shipping: Buyer pays shipping costs. We combine your shipping, if you buy more than one item. All shipments will be shipped by DHL EXPRESS, fast, easy and safe to track after we ship your item. Any questions, you can contact us 24/7.

Good Condition