Taschen
 |
|
| Founded | 1980 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Benedikt Taschen |
| Country of origin | Germany |
| Headquarters location | Cologne |
| Publication types | Art Books |
| Nonfiction topics | Arts |
| Number of employees | 250 |
| Official website | www |
Taschen is an art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany.
The company 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 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.
In 1985, Taschen introduced the highly successful Basic Art series with an inaugural title on Salvador Dalí. The series today comprises more than 60 titles and is available in up to 30 languages, each about a separate artist, ranging from artists such as Michelangelo to more contemporary artists such as Norman Rockwell. Further series followed, alongside an expansion into new themes like architecture, design, film, and lifestyle. As an example, Taschen also publishes 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. In the spring of 2014 Taschen’s Basic Art Series was criticised in Swedish public media for its focus on male artists. The series then consisted of 95 books, only 5 of which were about female artists. Malmö Konsthall in Sweden was the first institution to report the disparity highlighted by the artists Ditte Ejlerskov and EvaMarie Lindahl.
...
Wikipedia