Wars, for all their horrors, have been known to foster a sense of brotherhood among the men who fight in them. This was certainly the case with Tom of Finland – born Touko Laaksonen (1920–1991) – who was conscripted to serve in the Finnish Army during World War II and rose to become a lieutenant, beloved by his platoon for treating them with kindness and respect. The son of a country choral master, Tom seized the opportunity to strengthen the bond between his men and created the first men’s choir in the Finnish Army.
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“They had a lot of time sitting around waiting for the Russians to attack them so Tom taught all of the men in his platoon how to sing,” says Durk Dehner, president and co-founder of the Tom of Finland Foundation. “He could take on initiatives that came out of his own inspiration and yet he had this sensibility of not having to stand out and be noticed.”
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Flying under the radar, quite literally, Tom established a cottage industry selling drawings through his mail-order business, while also working a day job at an advertising firm. What few people know is the role photography played in Tom’s artistic process. Now, the new exhibition Tom of Finland: The Darkroom, opening April 30 at Fotografiska New York, brings together photographic portraits the artist used as reference images for his legendary and hugely influential drawings. Organised in conjunction with Tom’s 101st birthday on May 8, the exhibition explores this little-known aspect of the artist’s work, which was confined to his home studio and darkroom so as to protect him from persecution, prosecution, and imprisonment.
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