Editing Taschen (section)

==History==
[[File:Taschen Köln 2010.jpg|thumb|Taschen headquarters on [[Hohenzollernring]] 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 [[sexual fetish|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]]. <ref name="Degen Pener">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</ref>

Taschen publications are available in a various sizes, from oversized tomes to small pocket-sized books. The company has also produced [[calendar]]s, address books, and postcards sets.<ref>[[LinkedIn]]:
 [https://www.linkedin.com/company/85545/ Company Profile]</ref>

In 1985, Taschen introduced the ''[[Taschen Basic Art|Basic Art]]'' series with an inaugural title on [[Salvador Dalí]].<ref>[https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/search/basic-art ''Basic Art Series – The classic TASCHEN book'']</ref> Today's series comprises over 100 titles available in up to 30 languages, each about a separate artist, from classical to contemporary.<ref>{{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}}</ref> Further series followed, alongside an expansion into new themes like architecture, design, film, and lifestyle. For example, the firm also publishes a "[[Taschen Basic Architecture|Basic Architecture]]" series in the same style as "Basic Art" that covers some of the most prominent architects in history.<ref name="Giles">{{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}}</ref>

=== Focus on male artists ===
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]].<ref>{{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 }}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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 }}</ref>

=== The Helmut Newton SUMO ===
In 1999, Taschen expanded to the luxury market with the [[Helmut Newton]] ''[[Sumo (book)|SUMO]]''.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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,<ref>[[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</ref> with SUMO copy number 1 selling at auction for $304,000.<ref>Marina Cashdan: [http://howtospendit.ft.com/art/84191-artist-edition-books "Artist edition books"], in [[Financial Times#How to Spend It|How to Spend It]], 26 May 2015.</ref>

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".<ref>Thomas Hüetlin: "[http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-28781108.html Alis letzter Sieg]". ''[[Der Spiegel]]'' 41/2003.</ref>

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.<ref>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 }}.</ref>