Steve Shapiro’s Taxi Driver: Rare Photos of Cinema History

Taxi Driver is revered as one of cinema’s greatest masterpieces, the powers of Scorsese and DeNiro converging to create a milestone that would influence generations of filmmakers to come and forever imprint film audiences worldwide. In 1976, it was a piece of ambitious cinematic innovation, blending the noir and crime thriller genres in an unexpected way unlike any film had dared before. Today, the world gets a rare new look at the set of the iconic film in the form of Steve Schapiro, Taxi Driver — a stride-stopping 328-page volume of never-before-seen photographs by Steve Shapiro (of The Godfather Family Album fame), the special photographer on the set of Taxi Driver in 1975.

The limited-edition comes in only 1,000 copies, each numbered and signed by Shapiro himself, at $700 a piece. (Then again, we suspect serious cinema lovers and Scorsese fans would gladly give a kidney for this Taschen gem, so the pricetag may indeed be quite alright.)

With a foreword by Martin Scorsese himself and priceless images of a young De Niro, as well as a rare glimpse of a long-lost New York City, Steve Schapiro, Taxi Driver offers a priceless timecapsule of film history bound — and clamshell-boxed — to delight film buffs, New York lovers and vintage photography aficionados alike.

In 2010, we spent more than 4,500 hours bringing you Brain Pickings — the blog, the newsletter and the Twitter feed — over which we could’ve seen 53 feature-length films, listened to 135 music albums or taken 1,872 trips to the bathroom. If you found any joy and inspiration here this year, please consider supporting us with a modest donation — it lets us know we’re doing something right.

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Greatest of All Time: Remembering Muhammad Ali

To celebrate 30 years in publishing, luxury book purveyor Taschen (remember them?) is releasing a new edition of what’s easily their biggest hit to date: The 2004 volume GOAT: Greatest of All Time, celebrating the great Muhammad Ali. With thousands of photographs, art and visual memorability from over 100 artists, two gatefold sequences, the most compelling interviews with Ali culled from a half-century of archives, and original essays by some of today’s most exciting writers, the tome is fully deserving of Der Spiegel‘s description:

This is a monument on paper, the most megalomaniacal book in the history of civilization, the biggest, heaviest, most radiant thing ever printed — Ali’s last victory.” ~ Der Spiegel

With 800 pages weighing in at 75 lbs, GOAT is a heavyweight that will knock you out with its lush imagery, depth of perspective, creative point of view, and extraordinary energy.

Today, seven years after the publication of GOAT, we are proud to publish this affordable edition at last so that Ali’s genius can be shared with the widest possible audience. Smaller in size but not in impact, this new version brings the people’s champ to the people.” ~ Taschen

And, at $150, the new edition is a steal compared to the $4,500 (yes, you read that right) price tag of the original. Better yet, Amazon has knocked 37% off for a handsome $94.50. By our calculations that’s, oh let’s see, a 97.9% discount — which, in relative terms, makes the book almost free. And they say premium publishing was stubbornly snobbish.

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Trespass: A Brief History of Uncommissioned Street Art

We have a soft spot for street art, so we’re thrilled to announce the official release of Trespass: A History Of Uncommissioned Urban Art — the fantastic new book by WoosterCollective founders Marc and Sara Schiller.

What makes Trespass different from other street art books is that it’s not a street art book. It’s a book that certainly includes street art and graffiti but goes beyond that to also address performance, protest, sculpture, and the whole goal of the book was to really look at the context of street art in a much larger historical perspective.” ~ Marc Schiller

Trespass comes from Taschen, easily the most visually ambitious publisher today, whom you may recall from the superb Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made. Which means the book is an absolute visual gem and photographic treat of the most indulgent kind.

From Guatemalan guerrilla gardeners to icons like Banksy and Barry McGee, Trespass is as much an exhaustive compendium of compelling artwork as it is a modern manifesto for activism, democracy and freedom of speech.

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