Tea Towel Set

Tom of Finland’s works both made use of, and came to define, a queer lexicon of masculine archetypes. Tom’s men are hypermuscular, hypersexual, and often cast in blue-collar roles. Cowboys, sailors, and labourers were already tropes within early gay and physique publications, but the artist further exaggerated and refined them to heroic proportions. The most enduring of Tom's works are his drawings of bikers and leathermen. Inspired by Marlon Brando in ‘The Wild Ones’ (1953), the artist combined leather-clad bikers with his fetish for police and army uniforms, establishing an iconic gay look. Adopting the tight jeans, caps, and boots of working and military men as part of his aesthetic, the artist appropriated signifiers of class and machismo as symbols of sexuality itself. Inspired by the work of Edward Burra, Beryl Cook travelled to Marseille, where she encountered the subject of this work: "I painted this picture after a visit to Marseilles. It is an exciting place, dangerous too, and we were warned about which streets never to enter. I don't need warning twice, so we left those streets well alone and sat safely on the quayside in the evenings, content to watch activities on the magnificent yachts and the bustle around the small pavement cafés. This girl, dressed in a minute leopardskin outfit and sporting a golden tan, busied herself going here and there, pausing for a chat or drink, and occasionally disappearing into a dark alley. Her final appearance was from a nearby doorway with three small dogs eager for exercise, crossing the road in front of us as we walked back to the hotel; she left me with this last view of her."