Bottoms up! The joyfully lewd art of Beryl Cook and Tom of Finland

Once dismissed as bawdy kitsch, the two artists’ work has found a new generation of fans. A new exhibition celebrates their embrace of sexual liberation – and some ‘amazing bums’The ways in which artists become accepted by the art world are many and complicated. Take the reputations of Beryl Cook (1926-2008) and Touko Laaksonen, better known as Tom of Finland (1920-1991). Both spent most of their careers having their work either ignored or actively disdained by the establ