taschen

File:Taschen Köln 2010.jpg 53, Cologne]]

The company began as Taschen Comics, publishing Benedikt's comic collection. Taschen focuses on making lesser-seen art and imagery available to mainstream bookstores.The firm has brought potentially controversial art and imagery, including fetishistic imagery, queer art, historical erotica, pornography, and adult magazines (including multiple books with Playboy magazine) into broader public view, publishing it alongside its more mainstream books of comics reprints, art photography, painting, design, fashion, advertising history, film, and architecture. Degen Pener: [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/taschen-books-chief-reveals-new-751313 Taschen Books Chief Reveals New Projects, Talks 'Fifty Shades' and $12M Books], published in The Hollywood Reporter, 25 November 2014

Taschen publications are available in a various sizes, from oversized tomes to small pocket-sized books. The company has also produced calendars, address books, and postcards sets.LinkedIn:

[https://www.linkedin.com/company/85545/ Company Profile]

In 1985, Taschen introduced the Basic Art series with an inaugural title on Salvador Dalí.[https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/search/basic-art Basic Art Series – The classic TASCHEN book] Today's series comprises over 100 titles available in up to 30 languages, each about a separate artist, from classical to contemporary.{{Cite web|url=https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/search/basic-art-series|title=Basic Art Series 2.0 – The classic TASCHEN book|date=8 February 2018|website=TASCHEN}} Further series followed, alongside an expansion into new themes like architecture, design, film, and lifestyle. For example, the firm also publishes a "Basic Architecture" series in the same style as "Basic Art" that covers some of the most prominent architects in history.{{Cite news|url=https://hk.asiatatler.com/life/taschen-store-hong-kong|title=Why Taschen Opened Its First Asia Store In Hong Kong|last=Giles|first=Oliver|work=Hong Kong Tatler|access-date=2018-11-13|language=en}}

In the spring of 2014, the firm's Basic Art Series was criticised in Swedish public media for its focus on male artists. The series then consisted of 95 books, only five of which were female artists. Malmö Konsthall in Sweden was the first institution to report the disparity highlighted by the artists Ditte Ejlerskov and EvaMarie Lindahl.{{Cite web |title=Malmö Konsthall |url=http://www.konsthall.malmo.se/o.o.i.s/5373/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508030309/http://www.konsthall.malmo.se/o.o.i.s/5373 |archive-date=8 May 2014 |publisher=Konsthall.malmo.se |access-date=2014-05-17 |df=dmy-all }}{{Cite web|author=NODE, André Pahl |url=http://www.kunstkritikk.com/nyheter/taschen-under-fire/?d=en |title=Kunstkritikk — Taschen under Fire | date=25 April 2014 |publisher=Kunstkritikk.com |access-date=2014-05-17}}{{Cite web |url=http://culturenordic.com/about-the-blank-pages-feminist-history-in-the-making-at-malmo-konsthall/ |title=About: Blank Pages – feminist history in the making at Malmö Konsthall |publisher=Culturenordic.com |date=2014-05-05 |access-date=2014-05-17 |archive-date=8 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508062006/http://culturenordic.com/about-the-blank-pages-feminist-history-in-the-making-at-malmo-konsthall/ |url-status=dead }}

In 1999, Taschen expanded to the luxury market with the Helmut Newton SUMO.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703956604576110122598190148|title=Benedikt Taschen's Risky Business|last=Michals|first=Susan|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=2018-11-13|language=en-US}}

Signed and limited to 10,000 copies, the folio-sized publication quickly sold out. It later became the most expensive book published in the 20th century,Karin Nelson: [https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9E02E2DB1F3AF930A1575BC0A96F9C8B63.html "Now Available in Small"], The New York Times, 23 August 2009, retrieved 13 September 2017 with SUMO copy number 1 selling at auction for $304,000.Marina Cashdan: [http://howtospendit.ft.com/art/84191-artist-edition-books "Artist edition books"], in How to Spend It, 26 May 2015.

This book paved the way for Taschen's GOAT – Greatest Of All Time, an homage to Muhammad Ali, which Der Spiegel called "the biggest, heaviest, most radiant thing ever printed in the history of civilization".Thomas Hüetlin: "[http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-28781108.html Alis letzter Sieg]". Der Spiegel 41/2003.

Further Collector's Editions followed, including titles with Nobuyoshi Araki, Peter Beard, David Hockney, David LaChapelle, Sebastião Salgado, Annie Leibovitz and The Rolling Stones, often reaching ten times their original price within a few years.TASCHEN: [http://issuu.com/taschen/docs/taschen_ce_catalogue_2013/342 Collector's Editions Catalogue 2013] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141127023803/http://issuu.com/taschen/docs/taschen_ce_catalogue_2013/342 |date=27 November 2014 }}.

Taschen's Bibliotheca Universalis is a series of famous artworks in an affordable (about 15 euros) hardback format (14 x 19.5 cm).[https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/search/bibliotheca-universalis Bibliotheca Universalis: The World in Books], Taschen website (page visited on 3 September 2017). They are generally multilingual, with English, German and French texts and legends. Some books are also published in Spanish, Italian and European Portuguese.

Taschen Basic Architecture is a series of books on architects published by Taschen. Each book looks at a different architect, with a biography and pictures of their work.{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickhanlon/2016/07/14/how-taschen-seriously-disrupts-bookselling-with-amazing-brand-experiences/#674516b12152|title=How Taschen Seriously Disrupts Bookselling With Amazing Brand Experiences|last=Hanlon|first=Patrick|work=Forbes|access-date=2018-11-13|language=en}}

{{Main|Taschen Basic Art}}

This book series of 40 volumes, published in the 1990s, provided a comprehensive survey of architecture from antiquity to the present day.[https://www.librarything.com/nseries/26513/Taschens-World-Architecture Taschen's World Architecture], librarything.com. Retrieved 3 February 2023.

Through the mid-to-late 1990s, the company expanded by opening stores in other cities. Some dedicated flagship Taschen bookstores, conceived in collaboration with artists and designers such as Albert Oehlen, Beatriz Milhazes, Jonas Wood, Marc Newson, Mark Grotjahn, Philippe Starck, and Toby Ziegler, are located in:

{{Div col}}

• Berlin
• Beverly Hills
• Brussels
• Cologne
• Dallas (Taschen Library)
• Hollywood
• Hong Kong
• London
• Madrid
• Miami
• Milan
• Paris

{{Div col end}}

The firm has publishing offices in Berlin, Cologne, London, Paris, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong.

Between 2014 and 2018, Taschen owned and curated its own 6,000-square feet art gallery space in Los Angeles, featuring exhibitions on Michael Muller, Mick Rock, Ellen von Unwerth, and Albert Watson.[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-minh-swenson/taschen-grand-opening-wit_b_6331070.html "Taschen Grand Opening With David Bailey and the Rolling Stones"], The Huffington Post, 17 December 2014. The publishing house employs more than 250 staff members worldwide and many freelance editors.Jessica Berens: [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/nov/04/art "A passion for Taschen"] in The Observer, 4 November 2001.{{Cite web|url=https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/company/blog/1267.la_pop_up_gallery_pops_down.htm|title=L.A. Pop-up Gallery Pops Down|date=24 August 2018|website=TASCHEN}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite magazine |last=Bernhard |first=Brendan |date=11 September 2002 |title=Sex & Beauty, Art & Kitsch: The Exquisite Mayhem of Benedikt Taschen |url=http://www.laweekly.com/2002-09-19/news/sex-beauty-art-kitsch/ |magazine=LA Weekly |access-date=5 July 2014}}
• {{Cite news |last=Kirkpatrick |first=David D. |date=7 January 2002 |title=Price Cutting and Oversupply Imperil Art Book Houses |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/07/business/price-cutting-and-oversupply-imperil-art-book-houses.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=23 May 2008}}

{{Commons category|Taschen}}

• [http://www.taschen.com/ Official website]

{{Portal bar|Books|Arts|Companies}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Book publishing companies of Germany

Category:Companies based in Cologne

Category:Companies based in North Rhine-Westphalia

Category:Erotic photography

Category:German brands

Category:Luxury brands

Category:Mass media companies of Germany

Category:Mass media in Cologne

Category:Multinational companies headquartered in Germany

Category:Multinational publishing companies

Category:Privately held companies of Germany

Category:Publishing companies established in 1980

Category:Visual arts publishing companies