Tom of Finland XXL
£54.60£57.00 (-4%)
In 1998, TASCHEN introduced the world to the masterful art of Touko Laaksonen with The Art of Pleasure. Prior to that, Laaksonen, better known as Tom of Finland, enjoyed an intense cult following in the international gay community but was largely unknown to a broader audience.
In 2009, TASCHEN followed up with the ultimate Tom overview: Tom of Finland XXL, a beautiful big collector’s edition with over 1,000 images, covering six decades of the artist’s career. The work was gathered from collections across the United States and Europe with the help of the Tom of Finland Foundation, featuring many drawings, paintings, and sketches never previously reproduced. Other images had only been seen out of context and were finally presented in the sequential order Tom intended for full artistic appreciation and erotic impact.
The elegant oversized volume showed the full range of Tom’s talent, from sensitive portraits to frank sexual pleasure to tender expressions of love and haunting tributes to young men struck down by AIDS, and was completed by eight commissioned essays on Tom’s social and personal impact by Camille Paglia, John Waters, Armistead Maupin, Todd Oldham, and others, plus a scholarly analysis of individual drawings by art historian Edward Lucie-Smith.
The only thing missing from Tom of Finland XXL was a widely affordable price tag―until now. The new Tom of Finland XXL is still big enough to work your biceps, and includes all of the original content, but costs a fraction of the original price. You’re welcome.
Read more
Additional information
| Publisher | TASCHEN, Multilingual edition (15 Dec. 2022) |
|---|---|
| Language | Multilingual |
| Hardcover | 666 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 3836527243 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-3836527248 |
| Dimensions | 26 x 5 x 35.3 cm |
by Chris
It’s big, XXL is apt for the title.
The book is big, the muscles are big, well… everything about the men in here is big if you are familiar with Tom’s artwork.
The book also nicely covers the life, inspirations and drives of the artist. I grew up gazing at Tom of Finland art because it was seriously hot stuff for the adolescent boy i used to be. I mean, it’s still hot now as the man i’ve grown up to be, but i have also garnered much respect for the boundaries he pushed and the stereotypes of the time that he smashed.
Tip your delivery person too, this book is heavy haha
by Greg Naylor
A fantastic anthology of Touko Laaksonen’s (a.k.a Tom of Finland) work. The image reproduction is superb and the layout is great. It’s a very large and heavy book and deserves the XXL title. It’s a beautiful and interesting book and well worth it’s place on any gay man’s coffee table.
One thing to note, when I purchased it, it was listed as paperback format at £37, but arrived in hardback form with the outer book holder – bargain!
by Steve
I first came across Tom when I was in my early 20s and living in Paris in the 70s. Through reading the one readily available French gay magazine, I received through the post a flier for the work of Tom. I was still half trying to persuade myself that I was not gay (not least to protect my job). But the effect of Tom’s drawings was electrifying. Could I really be seeing what I thought I was seeing: the graphic description of everything that I didn’t dare accept I was desperately lusting after? In the pre-internet age, this was stuff you just did not see at all. Yet here was everything that was arousing about other men, not just graphically portrayed but glorified. In a society that was just about to accept John Inman as the embodiment of what it meant to be ‘queer’, Tom burst like a tiger among kittens. These men were about as un-camp as you could imagine. No part of their anatomy, let alone a wrist, was allowed to be limp. They were hyper-masculine, dominant, ready to convert the passing and condemnatory stranger to the joys of gay sex, completely unabashed at what they displayed and what they did. For the first time in modern life, male same sex attraction was glorified. All the aspects of male sexuality that one thought of furtively were there to be displayed, accepted, enjoyed and coveted. Attractive girlfriends were no match in Tom’s cartoons for the attractions of the passing male stranger. Gay sex was so all right that Tom portrayed it happening as much in public as in private. He legitimised one’s feelings and his heroes kicked sand in the faces of a straight world that thought all queers were pansies. He was a pioneer but his art still resonates because it is both extreme and exquisite. This is gay pride in art and it could not have a better champion or a better record and exposition than in this book.
by Felipe Cássius
This book is worth every penny, if you are a Tom of finland fan, then this is the definitive biography, I really can’t recommend this more highly. The book is massive and contains everything that you will ever need to know about the author, brilliant artist, and the man himself. The cherry on the cake is that the publication is superb quality, there’s just so much incredible facts and info to discover. It’s a superb and amazing book, you will be transfixed from beginning to end.
by Chris
One of the best gay books on the market. Excellent, which makes a great gift to anyone passionate about gay culture and/or erotica. This is something you would buy for your gay best friend when you’re ran out of ideas and still make a great impression.
Highly recommended
by guidedbyvoices
This book is way bigger than I’ve expected so I need to find a place for it but apart from that everything is great. Beautifully designed, high quality prints and loads of artworks to admire. I like the fact there’s a bit of background reading as well as pictures so it helps with better understanding of Tom’s work. I had this position in my basket for ages and I’m glad I finally purchased it!
by Stephen Godfrey
Bought for a friend’s 40th. He loved it. Prices range quite a bit on other sites, but Amazon was the lowest price.
by Felipe Cássius
Just absolutely stunning!