The Italian photographer died this Monday at the age of 82 following a long illness.
He was known for provocative campaigns for Italian clothing brand Benetton.
He was made famous by his shock advertising campaigns for Benetton. Oliviero Toscani died this Monday, January 13 at the age of 82 following a long illness, his family announced. “It is with immense sadness that we announce that today, January 13, 2025, our beloved Oliviero has embarked on his next journey”wrote those close to him on Instagram.
The photographer revealed in August 2024 that he suffered from amyloidosis, a rare and incurable disease which creates insoluble protein deposits in the tissues, explaining that he had lost 40 kilos in one year. “I'm not afraid of dying. As long as it's not painful”he then assured in a daily interview The Corriere della Sera.
Photography becomes art when it provokes a reaction in us
Olivero Toscani
Born on February 28, 1942 in Milan, Oliviero Toscani had built his career on scandal and provocation with campaigns for the clothing of the Italian group Benetton from 1983. His photos, which went around the world, notably featured a black woman breast-feeding a white child (1989), a man dying of AIDS and a cornetted nun kissing a young priest (1992), death row prisoners in the United States (2000), a young anorexic woman (2007).
“I hate artistic photography”he said in 2010. “Photography becomes art when it provokes a reaction in us, whether it is interest, curiosity or attention”. Several of its “United Colors of Benetton” campaigns were banned in Italy, but also in France.
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Reviving the original provocation, the group shocked again at the end of 2011 with photomontages showing the greats of this world kissing each other on the lips, including the Pope and an imam. A 2012 calendar presented by Toscani in Florence represented twelve penises, after that of 2011 which was composed of the same number of female pubes. Asked by
Corriere della Sera to know which photo he would choose if he had to choose only one, he replied: “For the whole, for the commitment. It’s not a photo that makes history, it’s an ethical, aesthetic and political choice.”
