In 1998, TASCHEN introduced the world to Touko Laaksonen's masterful art with the title The Art of Pleasure. Before that, Laaksonen, known as Tom of Finland, enjoyed a vibrant fan culture in the international gay community, but was almost unknown to a broader audience. In 2009, TASCHEN followed up with the ultimate overview of Tom: Tom of Finland XXL, a beautiful collector's edition with over 1,000 images spanning six decades of the artist's career. The work was assembled from collections in the United States and Europe with the help of the Tom of Finland Foundation, and includes many drawings, paintings, and sketches that had not been reproduced before. Other images had only been seen out of context and were finally presented with the sequence that Tom intended for full artistic appreciation and erotic impact. The elegant oversized volume showcased the full range of Tom's talent, from sensitive portraits to straightforward sexual pleasures, tender expressions of love, and poignant tributes to young men who fell victim to AIDS. It was complemented by eight commissioned essays on Tom's social and personal impact by Camille Paglia, John Waters, Armistead Maupin, Todd Oldham, and others, along with an academic analysis of individual drawings by art historian Edward Lucie-Smith. The new edition Tom of Finland XXL is still large enough to work your muscles and includes all the original content, but costs a fraction of the original price.