This story of six pictures by Tom of Finland, for me, is Tom's masterpiece. Image 4 was my first experience of gay erotic art when I stumbled across it on the front cover of a second hand copy of 'Physique Pictorial' and it left an indelible impression. Tom did more explicit images later in his career and more technically accomplished art, but never bettered the earthy inspiration behind these images which appeals to the fetish leanings of the viewer rather than serving up pornography to him.
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| 1 |
A biker is teaching a muscular hunk how to ride a motorcycle.
This image is appealing on two levels. The magnificent physique of the student, whose hairy torso expresses manliness and invites the viewer to lust. But there's also a subtle sense of masculine intimacy and adult caring in this situation that speaks directly to gay men in search of a protective mentor.
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| 2 |
The novice accidentally starts the machine in gear and the bike shoots off, leaving the instructor sprawling in it's wake. It collides with a stone wall, ejecting the rider.
On an erotic level the imagery is potent with the rider's sensually alluring, upturned backside aligned with, if not quite between, the mentor's open legs.
Tom is borrowing here from a traditional horse riding and hunting joke, where a rider is unseated when his horse refuses to jump a hedge. The sheer comedy of the accident makes it entertaining.
The Tom of Finland retrospective Vol 1 dates this series as 1964, but you can see here, that this picture at least is 1963
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| 3 |
The careless rider has to learn a new lesson, held down and spanked over the same stone wall that was his downfall. His petit buns and kicking legs seem at variance with the impression of strength in the first image. The overconfident youth is put in his place. His rear wriggles tantalisingly right between the instructor's legs.
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| 4 |
It's not the end of his penance, his mentor grabs him, pushing his head down and telling him to put right the damage he caused. The student's powerful physique avails him naught, he has no choice but to bend his knee. It's a magical moment. Tom has tweaked their relative sizes to amplify the sense of strength turned into weakness by a bigger man.
The student's face is pushed down towards the mentor's crotch but it seems to be a warning of possibilities rather than intent, preserving both parties masculinity, unsullied, for the benefit of censors on the look out for expressions of homosexuality. The result is to heighten the homoerotic credentials of the image for gay viewers longing to see homosexuality expressed without effeminacy.
Tom drafted this idea of the top dog dominating an offender in an earlier image, the Careless Sailor. It's slightly more successful, technically, but implies sexual subservience more explicitly.
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| 5 |
The hunk sets to work, straightening the bent mudguard of the motorbike, with the front wheel lodged between his thighs. It's another indication that his 'regular guy' maleness is undamaged.
The mentor looks on, absently fiddling with his pec.
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| 6 |
In true masculine fashion, the hunk has soiled his jeans in effecting the repair and has stripped them off to scrub them clean. Surprisingly, he's wearing no underwear. His mentor stands over him as if supervising his efforts. He seems to be making a suggestion that is interesting enough to make the hunk stop and listen. We can only guess what, but notice that the instructor is now showing his rear, highlighted un-subtly by an inset leather patch. Hint hint?
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See also - An Index of Tom of Finland articles at mitchmen
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