Taschen’s Huge Summer Sale Is Here, So Grab These Amazing Art Books

It's that time again—the moment to load up your coffee tables and bookshelves with the biggest, raddest art books imaginable from legendary publisher TASCHEN without spending a gazillion dollars. We are very much into every opportunity to buy our way into being cultured, and nothing says “I am deliciously erudite” like all the pink, wagging tongues in Ren Hang’s photography. Nothing invites you to stay into the wee hours of the night in a living room, discussing both Hegel and the undervalued feminism of the last 20 seconds of the "Stars Are Blind" video, than a fat stack of smart, horny, creative TASCHEN books. 

The esteemed art book publisher’s summer sale is back, just in time for Cancer season, and our early-summer boredom, so we’ve made a short list of our favorite titles to have sitting, oh so nonchalantly, on your mid-century modern coffee table. Put those art history classes to good use while simultaneously zhuzhing up your living space with an intellectual, aesthetically pleasing touch. We believe in you.

Sneaker Freaker: The Ultimate Sneaker Book

Any book that has the word “sneaker” in its title twice is going to be really, really good at documenting the global sneaker phenomenon that has swept the tides of streetwear over the years, and the cult magazine that documented its rise. The first book of its kind, Sneaker Freaker compiles over 650 pages of the most iconic sneakers with extreme attention to detail. The Guardian called it “a coffee table classic for rubber sole obsessives,” and we’re calling it your next not-birthday present to yourself.

Dalí: Les Dîners de Gala

Many of us know the work of Salvador Dalí for his melting clocks painting about, like, the theory of relativity or whatever, and maybe, if you’re a bit more of a Dalí-head, you may be familiar with his experimental films and more expansive artistic catalog. But what you may not know is that dude also made a very strange, psychedelic cookbook in 1973 that combines surrealist imagery with fantastical recipes. We wrote about it a few years ago when TASCHEN first reprinted it, and now you can take it home for half off and ogle some of the wildest food presentations ever conceived.

Matthew Weiner: Mad Men

Remember how much Mad Men made the world drool over mid-century design in 2007? No one did it better, or with more detail, from the costumes to the cultural references; the color palette to the sharp script. This two-volume tribute to the series includes production ephemera, on-set photos, notes from the writers’ room, and a bunch of gorgeous set stills, of course. 

Lo—TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism

When it comes to confronting climate extremes, the Lo––TEK design movement looks to the wisdom of indigenous peoples around the world who have been mindfully, sustainably, and resiliently tilling the earth forever, basically. As we enter an era of unparalleled technology, a rising human population, and a need for housing, anthropologist Wade Davis explores how the movement can help us reframe our design and ethical, inter-species values.  

Christo and Jean-Claude

If you’re not already on a first-name basis with Christo and Jean-Claude, you should be. This celebrated pair of modern artists created some of the most amazing environmental installations of the 20th century, from encircling an island in a ring of bright pink to stretching a curtain across an entire valley in Colorado. The level of ambition: unparalleled. The effect: wowowow. This is a whopper of a book, one that proves no dream for an art project is too big. It’s also $100 off its regular price, which is nuts.

Sebastião Salgado: GENESIS

Cracking open the pages of Genesis is a blended experience so epic and immersive, that it falls somewhere between that one Disneyland ride (Soarin' Over California?) and whatever it must have felt like to be Moses parting the sea. Photographer Sebastião Salgado’s black and white images capture all the sublime feels of the Amazon, Africa, and everywhere else he went on his eight-year quest to find landscapes and people who live unchanged, in spite of the devastating onslaught of modern development. 

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Basquiat’s work defined New York City in the 1980s, but the scope of his paintings goes far beyond a single city, or single era; and few held as visceral and unwavering of a mirror up to the topics of capitalism, race, and sexuality as him. Finally, we can see his major works at home with XXL-sized monographs that give every brushstroke the attention it deserves. 

Ren Hang

God, we miss Ren Hang. The Beijing-based photographer made subversively beautiful images that stay with us, from octopus tentacles sensually woven into human hair, to a pair of legs divided by red-manicured hands; a woman’s face framed by a peacock, or an erect penis urinating into Godzilla’s mouth. (Yah, this book is very decidedly Not Safe for Work.) Hang died in 2017 at the age of just 29, but his brief career was so rich and so bold, that it garnered over 20 solo and 70 group shows in just six years. The next best thing? Revisiting the best of his work in this book. 

California Crazy: American Pop Architecture

If you’ve ever spent a couple of weeks living wild and free on the open road, you may already know that the best part of any road trip is finding all of the strange architectural attractions that make America so damn, well, American. Weird buildings in the name of resourceful roadside advertising are one of the things we do best, and you can use this book as inspiration for your next cruise around the country.

1000 Tattoos

For the ink master of your heart, snag this massive, fascinating book exploring the history, diversity, artistry, and versatility of tattooing. It’s co-edited by Henk Schiffmacher, who also compiled his own amazing Taschen tattoo book. Grab it for just eight bucks right now.

Bosch: The Complete Works

Curious to know what it would’ve been like to do acid in the 16th century, and be super afraid of God? Look no further than the works of Hieronymous Bosch, the Dutch painter whose triptyque of heaven and hell has puzzled, enchanted, and terrified the bejesus out of us for centuries. This book is so large, it shows details of the artist’s works that you can’t even see without a magnifying glass. 

Frida Kahlo: The Complete Paintings

Kahlo was a key player in politics, gender, sexuality, and feminism—and now you can admire all of her 152 paintings in one XXL monograph format. The book showcases her enticing and admirable self-portraits, along with rare photos, diary entries, letters, and an illustrated biography. 

Massimo Listri: The World’s Most Beautiful Libraries

We love buying books, so it’s only natural we admire the many places where they’re stored. Massimo Listri traveled to some of the finest libraries in the world to admire its beautiful architecture. Libraries he explored range from medieval to 19th-century institutions, and are portrayed through impeccable photography. 

Erotica Universalis

Learn all about the erotic history of humanity, while tapping into your own sexual fantasies. The book highlights select excerpts from writers including Voltaire and Verlaine, along with works from artists such as Matisse and Boucher.  

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, so get in there and beef up that bookshelf.  

The Rec Room staff independently selected all of the stuff featured in this story. Want more reviews, recommendations, and red-hot deals? Sign up for our newsletter.