TASCHEN's Great Adventure began back in t980, when eighteen-year-old Benedikt Taschen opened a shop in his native Cologne, Germany, tomarket his massive comics collection. Within a year he began publishingcatalogues promoting his wares, but it wasn't until 1984 that his first art-book breakthrough occurred: he purchased 40,000 remainder copies ofa Magritte book printed in English, reselling them for a fraction of theiroriginal price, From a young age, Taschen had been interested in art butfound that art books were too expensive and hard to obtain, and the suc-cess of this daring move proved that Taschen was not alone in thinkingthat the art-book market should be democratized.

"Pay For Soup. Build A Fort. Set That On Fire."

Basquiat And The 1980s Art Scene

"Samo As A Neo Art Form"

Childhood And Youth

"Famous Negro Athletes #47"

On The Way To Stardom

"Kings, Heroes And The Street"

Basquiat's Themes

"Profit I"

In The Art Business

"Dos Cabezas"

Basquiat And Warhol

"Riding With Death"

The Final Years

Chronology