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Tom of Finland and other erotic gay art

Always curious how people feel about this stuff. What are your thoughts on Tom of Finland? Do you find it iconic or tacky? Are there any other gay erotic artworks you like - George Quaintance, Etienne, Harry Bush?

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by Anonymousreply 49July 11, 2025 3:17 AM

I've always wanted to see the Leslie-Lohman collection.

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by Anonymousreply 1July 9, 2025 4:13 PM

Tacky as fuck. Even as a young gayling I thought dicks hanging everywhere was just tasteless.

by Anonymousreply 2July 9, 2025 4:17 PM

Here is a recent show of ToF drawings. If you click to the link you can visit some peruse the drawings. There are sketches and a fun complete drawings. Really kinky stuff, not his mainstream. I really enjoy Tom of Finland. It's a good combination of sexy, campy, and iconic.

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by Anonymousreply 3July 9, 2025 4:19 PM

Some of it is very cartoonish, but I enjoy the works of the artists and craftsmen you cite, OP. It may be because I'm into kinky sex the works celebrate.

But for gay erotic art, I really appreciate Paul Cadmus.

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by Anonymousreply 4July 9, 2025 4:20 PM

It's cheap and pulpy and fun.

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by Anonymousreply 5July 9, 2025 4:22 PM

I was going to mention Paul Cadmus, r4. He was the superior artist, imo.

I never liked ToF because it seemed very vanilla and unsexy to me. Just an endless parade of bodybuilders with 12 inch cocks. No appreciation for the different ways a man can be sexy.

by Anonymousreply 6July 9, 2025 4:25 PM

I'm glad I got to see the George Quaintance exhibit in LA. I was surprised at how massive the paintings were.

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by Anonymousreply 7July 9, 2025 4:25 PM

Michael Kirwan is one of my favorites.

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by Anonymousreply 8July 9, 2025 4:30 PM

It's pin-up art like Vargas and Petty.

by Anonymousreply 9July 9, 2025 4:34 PM

It made quite the impression on an 18 year old in the late 60s.

Younger guys have no idea how unavailable "erotic gay art" mags / books were back in the day.

by Anonymousreply 10July 9, 2025 4:35 PM

"Daddy and the Muscle Academy" is a great doc worth checking out

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by Anonymousreply 11July 9, 2025 4:38 PM

R8 I met him at one of the TOF shows in LA. Super nice guy. RIP. All his work is done hand and watercolor.

by Anonymousreply 12July 9, 2025 4:40 PM

If I were wealthy and had a pool and gardens I would have a giant Quaintance in the pool house.

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by Anonymousreply 13July 9, 2025 4:45 PM

Beyond tacky.

by Anonymousreply 14July 9, 2025 4:47 PM

Terry Miller.

by Anonymousreply 15July 9, 2025 4:47 PM

Ridiculous. Fake machismo. Once they open their mouth, purse fall out.

by Anonymousreply 16July 9, 2025 4:49 PM

Quaintance is more my style. Absurdly ridiculous, "dimestore glamour."

by Anonymousreply 17July 9, 2025 4:51 PM

Marc DeBauch

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by Anonymousreply 18July 9, 2025 5:00 PM
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by Anonymousreply 19July 9, 2025 5:02 PM

I love ToF and Harry Bush. I own several books of erotic art are now collectors items valued $500-$700. I wouldn’t hang the art on my walls but I love flipping through the books. I’m also an artist and learn a lot from their work.

Some contemporary artists like Joe Phillips, Mark Beard and Kent Lau are really talented too.

by Anonymousreply 20July 9, 2025 5:32 PM

I never much cared for Kirwan because the faces on his creations were kind of monster-ish.

Always liked Harry Bush. Josman too, though the narratives were sometimes icky. Most other artists were not my cup of tea.

by Anonymousreply 21July 9, 2025 5:37 PM

PS there was a thread here before about Maurice Vellekoop, who's had some hot erotic sketches.

by Anonymousreply 22July 9, 2025 5:38 PM

R2 = Proud Philistine

by Anonymousreply 23July 9, 2025 5:43 PM

R16 = Unaware he's not the market, conflating eroticism with humor with "not his kind of pornography, because too gay."

A lot of them here, and apparently everywhere.

MAGAy taste, rather like the Nazi embrace of "noble, masculine virility" against "homosexualist degradation and perversion."

by Anonymousreply 24July 9, 2025 5:47 PM

Comedienne Margaret Cho is known for her impressive collection of erotic and gay art, which includes nude portraits of Chris Isaak.

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by Anonymousreply 25July 9, 2025 6:02 PM

The Hun Comics were the best if your fantasies were muscle, jocks, college, black and asian studs!

by Anonymousreply 26July 9, 2025 6:48 PM

Those Chris Isaak paintings/sketches are hot.

by Anonymousreply 27July 9, 2025 6:53 PM

tof is excellent.

especially thru the decades and examining how photography-advances are reflected in his skill.

so prolific, tof could potentially break a.i.-animation boundaries

by Anonymousreply 28July 9, 2025 6:54 PM

Hun !!

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by Anonymousreply 29July 9, 2025 6:55 PM

R10 - I agree with you, although I'm a bit younger. I remember coming across this in the late 80s and the images seemed so gay-affirming - handsome men with great bodies, smiling and being gay.

Outside of porn which was hit or miss - there weren't images like this available. God knows there weren't hardly any gay men portrayed in films or TV - you really had to hunt for it.

Now it looks over-the-top and silly. People don't remember pre-internet how hard it was to get your hands on to ANYTHING gay, even in big cities. Sure you eventually found the gay bookstore but it was still not a great selection - and a lot of porn.

by Anonymousreply 30July 9, 2025 6:58 PM

I won't want it displayed in my home. However, some extreme gays could want it. I think those who do might be in the adult entertainment industry, came out later in life, of people who are just consumed with everything gay (and those extremes that come with it).

by Anonymousreply 31July 9, 2025 7:05 PM

It always struck me as silly and occasionally funny, but I’ve seldom found it sexy. I’d never want to see it on my walls.

by Anonymousreply 32July 9, 2025 7:07 PM

[quote] Comedienne Margaret Cho

You’re being very generous.

by Anonymousreply 33July 9, 2025 7:12 PM

The term “art” used here is generous. Cartoons maybe.

by Anonymousreply 34July 9, 2025 7:22 PM

I like Paul Cadmus

by Anonymousreply 35July 9, 2025 7:23 PM

Pavel Tchelitchew (1898-1957)

Formerly owned by Geoffrey Beene.

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by Anonymousreply 36July 9, 2025 7:29 PM

The Hun and Etienne produced raunchier material than Tom of Finland, in my opinion. But Tom certainly opened the way for them to do so.

by Anonymousreply 37July 9, 2025 7:38 PM

There was an artist who was always in Advocate Men in the 90s. Very traditional drawings, but very hot.

by Anonymousreply 38July 9, 2025 7:48 PM

I've always liked TOF just because it looked like the guys were having fun. You never saw happy gay guys in media when I was growing up. Even in porn they always looked miserable.

But I adore Harry Bush's art! He really knew how to draw sexy men.

by Anonymousreply 39July 9, 2025 8:05 PM

Ironically, there are virtually no men in Finland who look like the men in his work.

(For proof, watch any Finnish tv series or films).

by Anonymousreply 40July 9, 2025 8:35 PM

R40 - I saw the Tom of Finland film - there was actually a film about his life in Finland, how gays were arrested and his arrival in LA and how it opened a whole new world for him. I recommend it.

But IIRC, Tom was influenced by German WW2 wehrmacht uniforms and motorcycle culture.

He was almost arrested for even drawing these things and circulating one or two pieces among gay men in Berlin. So even drawing this shit got him in trouble.

Regardless of what our modern eyes view it - this was daring - even illegal, groundbreaking and liberating for gay men, way before gay liberation. It should be viewed with that lens.

It took a lot of risk and balls to make these images - as foreign and ridiculous as that may sound today.

by Anonymousreply 41July 10, 2025 4:08 AM

R41, I also liked the Tom of Finland film

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by Anonymousreply 42July 10, 2025 4:38 AM

Rex was another artist who I like. A lot of his illustrations appeared in gay magazines.

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by Anonymousreply 43July 10, 2025 3:38 PM

JC Leyendecker was gay and did a lot of hot (though not overtly pornographic) illustrations

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by Anonymousreply 44July 10, 2025 3:46 PM

Marc DeBauch

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by Anonymousreply 45July 11, 2025 3:09 AM

Art?

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by Anonymousreply 46July 11, 2025 3:12 AM

Saul Lyons

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by Anonymousreply 47July 11, 2025 3:13 AM

Lucien Freud

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by Anonymousreply 48July 11, 2025 3:15 AM

Getting warmer

by Anonymousreply 49July 11, 2025 3:17 AM
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