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Benedikt Taschen

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Benedikt Taschen
Born1961 (age 62–63)
Cologne, Germany
OccupationPublisher

Benedikt Taschen, 1961, Cologne, Germany, is a German publisher and collector of contemporary art. He is the founder and owner of TASCHEN, one of the most successful publishing houses in the field of art, architecture, design, film, photography and lifestyle.[1]

As the youngest child to four brothers and sisters, Taschen’s professional life started at age 18 in a 250-square-foot (23 m2) store in Cologne, Germany, named TASCHEN COMICS. In 1984, he bought 40,000 remainder copies of a Magritte monograph published in English with money borrowed from his aunt.[2] The books sold through at double the price in two months and he was soon publishing his own books. By the end of the 1980s TASCHEN titles were available in over a dozen languages at prices that made art books affordable to students and collectors alike.[3][4]

By the late 1990s, he had become a household name in publishing.[5] When Vanity Fair’s Matt Tyrnauer deemed him, “one of the few people in business who has the courage to do exactly what he wants whenever he wants to”, Benedikt Taschen tested the theory with Helmut Newton’s SUMO, the largest bound book of the 20th century. “I have done a lot of books, and I can tell you - without mentioning names - that publishers are not all like him. There are very few like him. Or there are none like him. He is also, I might add, a madman”, says Helmut Newton to Vanity Fair.

SUMO is also the company’s most successful title of the last ten years and the precursor to Benedikt Taschen’s most ambitious personal project: GOAT — Greatest of All Time, a tribute to Muhammad Ali, published in Spring 2004. Four years in the making, GOAT weighs 75 lbs and is 20" x 20" in size, with nearly 800 pages of archival and original photographs, graphic artwork and articles and essays - including those of Ali himself.

Another of his books is the ‘Icons’ series of art books, some of the most accessible in the world.

Today, TASCHEN has offices in Berlin, Cologne, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Paris and Tokyo and stores in Amsterdam, Beverly Hills, Brussels, Cologne, Hamburg, Hollywood, London, Miami, Milan, New York, and Paris. In 2014, TASCHEN opened their first art gallery in Los Angeles.[6] The publishing house employs more than 200 staff members worldwide and many longtime freelance editors.[7] As Billy Wilder put it in Vanity Fair 2000: “Benedikt reminds me of an old-time Hollywood figure — a studio head, someone who is in firm command and has his hand in everything”.

Taschen has been collecting works of art by Martin Kippenberger, Albert Oehlen and Günther Förg since the middle of the 1980s. Later on, he also started collecting several works of US-American artists such as Jeff Koons, Mike Kelley and Christopher Wool. In 2004, the The Sofia dedicated an extensive exhibition to his private collection.[8] ARTnews regularly counts him to the 200 top collectors worldwide, artnet ranks him first among the “10 Los Angeles Art Power Couples”.[9][10]

He is married with Lauren Taschen and lives in the Chemosphere, designed by John Lautner in 1960.[11][12][13] He bought the home for US$1 million in 1997, restored the building, and published a book on Lautner. He lives and works in Berlin and Los Angeles.[14]

References

  1. ^ Susan Michals: “Benedikt Taschen's Risky Business” in the Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2011.
  2. ^ TASCHEN History: The Art of Making Books
  3. ^ The Secret to TASCHEN’s success in Artforum
  4. ^ Michel Guerrin: Taschen le livre d'art démocratisé in Le Monde, May 16, 2002.
  5. ^ “Benedikt Taschen”, ICON 067, William Wiles, January 2009
  6. ^ “Taschen Grand Opening With David Bailey and the Rolling Stones” in The Huffington Post, December 17, 2014.
  7. ^ Jessica Berens: “A passion for Taschen” in The Observer, November 4, 2001.
  8. ^ Colección Taschen on the website of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.
  9. ^ The Editors of ARTnews: The 2014 ARTnews 200 Top Collectors.
  10. ^ Susan Michals: “10 Los Angeles Art Power Couples You Need To Know”, April 3, 2015.
  11. ^ “Lauren Taschen”, Visionary Women, 7 June 2015
  12. ^ “35 Years of TASCHEN” in Grund Genug, Michaela Cordes, 1 June 2015
  13. ^ “Taschen’s wedding gift” in The Art Newspaper, 14 June 2005.
  14. ^ “Sex & Beauty, Art & Kitsch”, LA Weekly, Brendan Bernhard, September 19, 2002

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