Under the pseudonym Tom of Finland, Touko Laaksonen became argu ably the most famous and influential Finnish artist of the 20th century.His iconic portrayal of self-confident and life-affirming gayness gave decisiveimpulse to the international gay movements from the 1960s onwards. But al-though we clearly associate his portrayals of sensual and powerful cowboys,farm hands, policemen and leathermen with the USA, Tom of Finland's rise togay icon received the decisive impetus neither in his native Finland nor in theUSA. It was, of all places, the city of Hamburg and Tom's friendship with keyexponents of the local gay scene in the early 1970s that helped him to his firstexhibition ever and a series of seminal publications. He created a grand muralfor the legendary Toms Bar , until today the only one legitimately named afterhim. Regular commissions to design posters and ads for gay events in Hamburgallowed him to finally quit his day job as advertising executive, and led to thecreation of the most extensive private collection of his drawings to date.Galerie Judin is now devoting an exhibition and a comprehensive publicationto these seminal, but thus far little researched years, the art they generatedand the friendships they formed. The book includes texts by Juerg Judin, PayMatthis Karstens, Kati Mustola and Alice Delage.Tom of Finland (1920 1991) is one the most influential and celebrated figures of 20th-century gay culture.