In 1945 he resumed his ar studies in Helsinki while simultaneously studying piano. In the years following the war, he worked as a freelance commercial artist and cabaret pianist, and in 1953 he met Veli, who was to be his partner for the next 28 years.

Although Laaksonen had been making what he described as his "dirty drawings" since the 1940s, it was only in the late 1950s that he began publishing these hiderto secret pictures.

On the suggestion of a friend, he sent some drawings to the Athletic Model Guild (AMG) of Los Angeles. Because of the need to remain anonimous, and due to the unfamiliarity of his Finnish name for an American audience, Laaksonen signed the drawing "Tom of Finland".

Despite the immediate popularity of his drawings, he was only able to give up his job in advertising in 1973 - the same year he had his first solo exhibition in Hamburg.

In 1978 Tom visited the US for the first time and, following the death of Veli in 1981, began regularly traveling between Finland and America.

Growing imitation and pirating of his work led to an association between the US businessman Durk Dehner and Tom, and in 1986 they established the Tom of Finland Foundation in Los Angeles, which is both the official archive of Tom's work and a collection of gay erotic art.

A documentary film of Tom's life and work, entitled Daddy and the Muscle Academy, directed by Ilppo Pohjola and partly financed by the Finnish Film Board, was released in 1991. Later that year Tom of Finland died of a stroke in Helsinki.

"If I don't have an erection when I'm doing a drawing, I know it's no good." - Tom of Finland

Source: excerpts from: Aldrich R. & Wotherspoon G., Who's Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History, from WWII to Present Day, Routledge, London, 2001