Taschen is a German art book publishing house, founded in 1980 in Cologne by Benedikt Taschen. It started its business as Taschen Comics, publishing the founder's large collection of comics. Taschen has played a considerable role in making certain less visible manifestations of art, including queer art depictions, period erotic imagery, pornography, and adult magazines, accessible to the public of large book circuits. Taschen has helped bring these art forms to a wider audience by publishing these potentially controversial volumes alongside more conventional reprints of comics, art photography, painting, design, fashion, advertising history, film, and architecture.