Taschen

Taschen is an art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany.

Overview

It began as Taschen Comics publishing Benedikt's extensive comic collection. Taschen has been a noteworthy force in making lesser-seen art available to mainstream bookstores, including some fetishistic imagery, queer art, historical erotica, pornography and adult magazines (including multiple books with Playboy magazine). Taschen has helped bring this art into broader public view, by publishing these potentially controversial volumes alongside its more mainstream books of comics reprints, art photography, painting, design, fashion, advertising history, film, and architecture.

Taschen's publications are available in a variety of sizes, from large tomes detailing the complete works of Leonardo da Vinci, to surprisingly uncommon middle-sized books, to their "Icons" series of small, flexicover volumes which encapsulate themes of everything from old ads of Las Vegas, Nevada to male nudes. The company has also produced calendars, address books, and postcards of popular subjects.

The company's stated mission has been to publish innovative, beautifully designed art books at popular prices. The Icons series, for example, has several new volumes published a year, and retailing for about $10 are inexpensive for published collections of art. Another popular series is their 'Basic Art' series, which has around 50 volumes, each about a separate artist, ranging from artists such as Michelangelo to more contemporary artists such as Norman Rockwell. They also publish a 'Basic Architecture' series in the same style as 'Basic Art' that covers some of the most prominent architects in history, such as Frank Lloyd Wright.

Taschen has published one of the most expensive books in publishing history, the $15,000, 75 pound, 700 page GOAT (Greatest of All Time), a tribute to the American boxer Muhammad Ali which Der Spiegel called "the biggest, heaviest, most radiant thing ever printed in the history of civilization." They have also published the $15,000 Helmut Newton retrospective Sumo and a $4,000 limited edition Araki volume.

Reviews

Stores

Dedicated flagship Taschen bookstores are located in:

• Amsterdam, (P.C. Hooftstraat 44)
• Beverly Hills, (354 N. Beverly Drive)
• Brussels, (Place du Grand Sablon - Grote Zavelplein 18)
• Cologne, (Hohenzollernring 28)
• Dallas, (Taschen's first Library & Bookstore boutique) (1530 Main St.)
• Hamburg, (Bleichenbrücke 1-7)
• Los Angeles, (6333 W. 3rd Street)
• London, (12 Duke of York Square)
• Miami, (1111 Lincoln Road)
• Milan, (Via Meravigli 17)
• New York City, (107 Greene Street)
• Paris, (2 rue de Buci)

Title sampling

• Eric Kroll, Best of Bizarre. Taschen, 2001. ISBN 3-8228-5555-3.
• Eric Kroll, Bizarre: The Complete Reprint of John Willie's Bizarre, Vols. 1-26. Taschen, 1996. ISBN 3-8228-9269-6.
• Benedikt Taschen and Howard L. Bingham, GOAT, Taschen 2004. ISBN 3-8228-1627-2.
• Helmut Newton, SUMO, Taschen 2000. ISBN 3-8228-6394-7.
• Hunter S. Thompson, The Curse of Lono, Taschen 2005. ISBN 3-8228-4897-2.
• Ellen Von Unwerth, The Story of Olga, Taschen 2012 ISBN 3-8365-3980-2

See also

• Taschen Basic Art
• Taschen Basic Architecture

Notes

References

• Bernhard, Brendan (11 September 2002). "Sex & Beauty, Art & Kitsch: The Exquisite Mayhem of Benedikt Taschen". LA Weekly. Retrieved 5 July 2014. 
• Kirkpatrick, David D. (7 January 2002). "Price Cutting and Oversupply Imperil Art Book Houses". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). Retrieved 23 May 2008. 

External links

• Official website