The government of Finland is honoring one of its most popular and well-known artists, Tom of Finland, with a series of postage stamps that will be available for purchase in September. Tom of Finland, whose real name was Touko Laaksonen (1920-1991), became famous for his drawings depicting homoerotic art and a late 20th century idea of gay male culture.
“Confident and proud homoeroticism” is what the Finnish postal service, Itella Posti Oy, is calling the artwork.
Tom of Finland’s “emphatically masculine homoerotic drawings have attained iconic status in their genre and had an influence on, for instance, pop culture and fashion,” the Finnish postal service announcement notes.
In his works, Tom of Finland utilized the self-irony and humor typical of subcultures. During his career, Tom of Finland produced more than 3,500 drawings. The two drawings on the stamp sheet were selected by graphic artist Timo Berry, who designed the stamp, and Susanna Luoto, the Finnish representative of the foundation named after Tom of Finland operating in Los Angeles.
The drawings on the stamp sheet represent strong and confident male figures typical of their designer. “The sheet portrays a sensual life force and being proud of oneself. There is never too much of that in this northern country,” says Timo Berry. The miniature sheet contains three 1st class self-adhesive stamps.
Just last week, the U.S. Postal Service announced that Harvey Milk will become America’s first openly-gay elected official to be honored with a stamp.
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