Sexy Books: How Taschen Became the World’s Most Famous Erotic Publishers

Art books publishing has long been a rarified field, a niche within a niche with a rich tapestry of extraordinary houses known by a select few. Over the past century, only a few of these houses have succeeded at becoming brands – though one stands out: Taschen, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

Founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen, the company started out as a comic book publisher before expanding into fashion, art, photography, film, design, advertising, architecture and, most famously, erotica. In 1999, Taschen made headlines when it released Helmut Newton’s SUMO, a lavishly oversized volume of the master’s work so vast that it came with its own stand designed by Phillippe Starck. Priced at $1500, the critics gasped – but industry insiders knew Taschen was on the cutting edge when they pre-sold 70 per cent of the 10,000 copy print run.

With its exquisite mix of high production values and clean design, Taschen books are for everyone, with prices starting at £10. But it’s what’s beneath the covers that counts. Sexy Book Editor Dian Hanson, who has been on staff since 2001, quotes Benedikt Taschen’s ethos with pride: “There is no forbidden art. There is good art and bad art and we will not publish bad art no matter what the subject, and we will publish all good art no matter what the subject.”

It’s a sentiment that has guided Hanson beginning with her very first Taschen book, Naked as a Jaybird, a collection of photographs taken from Jaybird, a 1960-70s porn magazine that capitalised the decriminalisation of nudist photography in the United States. The magazine’s timeline mirrors Hanson’s own singular path, one that is worthy of a Hollywood biopic in its own right.

“My father was a cult leader,” Hanson says. “They were based on white supremacy and ‘sex magic’ that said, ‘Sex was a great gift from God and we must never deny our sexuality.’ But then it promulgated that women’s nature was to be completely submissive to her husband and they should never do anything to block pregnancy. The male was supreme.”

At 18, Hanson left home and discovered porn theatres and adult bookstores, which sprouted up just as pornography was decriminalised. “I wanted to work in that industry. I couldn’t think of a better job,” she says. In the 1970s, that dream came true when Hanson began working for Puritan magazine. After the company folded, Hanson worked for a wide array of men’s magazines before settling in as editor of Leg Show magazine in 1987, transforming the obscure porn magazine into a veritable powerhouse.

In 1994, Benedikt Taschen reached out to Hanson, inviting her to join the house. She demurred, loyal to her publisher and to her readers. They maintained a relationship that blossomed in 2001, when Hanson’s publisher died and a member of the Gambino crime family tried to take over the company.

“I called up Benedikt and told him I was ready,” Hanson says. “He made it clear we would not have restrictions. We would not marginalise our sex books – they would be under the same imprint as all the other books. They would have the same production standards and budgets. We would not just make masterpieces – in his words, ‘We would make masturbation pieces!’”

With two decades under her belt, Hanson has helmed the Body Parts series, which introduced everything from The Big Book of Breasts to The Big Penis Book. She also collaborated with porn pioneer Vanessa del Rio on the luxurious limited edition, Fifty Years of Slightly Slutty Behavior. “Vanessa is a friend of mine going back to the 70s, one of the first performers I met in the industry. She’s such an unusual woman who embraced her sexuality, who enjoyed working in porn, who never played the victim, who was the first woman of colour to become a star in porn, who broke down barriers in every direction,” Hanson says.

“While working on the book I remember Benedikt saying, ‘The dirtier the subject matter, the more production values in order to balance the prejudices people could possibly bring to it.’ If you put something in an art book and give it gorgeous production values, you legitimise it, whatever it is. My greatest joy here is to take a photographer or artist who never got any respect [from the art world], make a beautiful book about them, and see the joy it brings them to be elevated on the world stage.”

Images taken from: Richard Kern. New York Girls.; Ren Hang; Laurent Benaïm; Vanessa Del Rio: Fifty Years of Slightly Slutty Behavior; Tom of Finland XXL; and My Buddy. World War II Laid Bare. All published by Taschen.