The artist known as Tom of Finland would have turned 101 this year. A pioneer of LGBTQ and erotic arts, Tom of Finland not only pushed the boundaries of homoerotic art and censorship in the 1950s and 60s, but his images became intertwined with gay culture and the gay aesthetic of the 1970s until present day.His stylized and exaggerated images of masculine men being joyfully erotic changed the way that many gay men saw themselves and their sexuality.
He was sex-positive decades before the term was invented.The importance of his work has progressively been recognized more and more in the late 20th into the 21st century.