The great Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani has died at the age of 82, his family announced in a press release published Monday January 13. “Our beloved Oliviero has set out on his next journey. We ask for reservation and understanding for this moment as we would like to live in the privacy of the family,” reads the note signed by his wife, Kirsti, and his children, Rocco, Lola and Ali, cited by the agency. Italian press Ansa.
Oliviero Toscani revealed in August 2024 that he was seriously ill. Two years ago, doctors diagnosed him with amyloidosis, a rare and incurable disease that creates insoluble protein deposits in tissues. In one year, he lost 40 kilos. According to Rai, he had been hospitalized since Friday in the intensive care unit of the Cecina hospital in Livorno.
After training at the Zurich Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts), Milan-born Oliviero Toscani immersed himself in street photography in New York and joined Andy Warhol’s legendary Factory. In a sixty-year career, the artist has photographed big names and remains famous for his provocative campaigns with the fashion brand Benetton in the 90s, such as these shocking visuals of a nun and a priest kissing or body marked “HIV Positive”. He thus questioned gender, racism, ethics and aesthetics.
An exhibition entitled “Oliviero Toscani: Photography and Provocation”, which covers the entirety of his work, has just ended at the Swiss Museum of Design and Visual Communication in Zurich.
