During a 60-year career, Oliviero Toscani worked for major global magazines and was renowned for his vibrant, provocative portraits and advertising campaigns which addressed issues such as the environment, migration and racism.
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Oliviero Toscani, the visionary Italian photographer renowned for his provocative advertising campaigns and bold social commentary, has died aged 82.
“With immense sorrow we announce the news that today, 13 January 2025, our beloved Oliviero has embarked on his next journey. We kindly ask for privacy and understanding for this moment that we would like to face in the intimacy of the family. Kirsti Toscani with Rocco, Lola and Alì,” his family said in a statement.
The influential photographer, born in 1942, had been battling amyloidosis for two years, a rare disease that caused him to lose 40 kilograms in just a few months. Amyloidosis occurs when abnormal proteins produced by the body are deposited in vital organs as small fibres, causing damage over time.
Who was Oliviero Toscani?
Toscani began his career as a young advertising photographer, quickly becoming a leading figure in the fashion industry. His work featured in prestigious titles such as Vogue, Elle and Harper’s Bazaar.
Very early on in his life, he developed a love and passion for photography, inspired by his father, Fedele Toscani, a photojournalist for Corriere della Sera. After studying at Vittorio Veneto High School in Milan, he graduated in photography from the Zurich University of the Arts in 1965.
At just 14 years of age, he published his first photograph in the same Milanese newspaper: an image of Rachele Mussolini’s grief during her husband Benito Mussolini’s funeral in 1957, twelve years after his death.
Considered to be one of the most innovative and provocative advertising photographers of the 20th century, Toscani established himself as one of the most sought-after artists by major brands, working with the likes of Valentino and Chanel. But he created his most innovative and recognised work with the Italian company Benetton.
Addressing issues such as refugees, death row inmates, Mafia murders and racism, Toscani’s partnership with Benetton produced some of the most unfiltered and provocative campaigns in advertising history.
The collaboration with the brand began in 1982, lasting until 2000, and resumed from 2018 to early 2020. However, the relationship ended abruptly following controversial remarks Toscani made about the Morandi Bridge collapseswhich claimed 43 lives.
At the time of the disaster, the Benetton family held the majority share in the company responsible for managing the bridge.
Toscani’s most famous advertising campaigns
Toscani’s first campaign for Benetton, featuring the slogan “All the Colors of the World,” launched the brand’s message of integration. It won numerous awards while stirring controversy, and later became synonymous with the brand’s new name, United Colors of Benetton.
In 1991, Toscani launched Colors magazine, followed by the establishment of Fabrica in 1994, an international centre for arts and communication research, whose headquarters were designed by Japanese architect Tadao Andō.
During this period, he produced a series of monographic catalogues focused on social issues: “Corleone” (1997), portraits of young people in one of the Mafia’s historical centres in Sicily, “I girasoli” (1998), dedicated to the life of disabled children, and “We, on death row” (2000), highlighting the injustice of the death penalty.
In a career spanning 60 years, Toscani worked all over the world. His subjects ranged from John Lennon and Andy Warhol to Muhammad Ali and Lou Reed, as well as figures like Claudia Schiffer, Monica Bellucci, Federico Fellini and the rising tennis star Jannik Sinner.
In 2007, Toscani launched Razza Umana, a photography and video project for the United Nations, focusing on the different aspects of human existence. It captured a wide spectrum of physical, social and cultural characteristics of humanity across more than 100 Italian municipalities, as well as in Israel, Palestine, Japan and Guatemala.
ADVERTISEMENT“I look for new faces, people with enthusiasm in their eyes, I demand that they have no make-up, beauty is something else,” he said on his 80th birthday, celebrated in 2022 with an exhibition at Milan’s Palazzo Reale.
Portraits from the pandemic
Toscani’s obsession with faces continued during the COVID-19 pandemic. He invited people to capture their own isolation through self-portraits, publishing selected images on La Repubblica’s website.
In his article launching the initiative, Toscani asked, “What did we look like at the time of the virus? One day, fortunately, we will ask ourselves. But who will answer? There are no professional photojournalists in the houses of our quarantine. We are there.”
“You have a historic responsibility! You are your own reporters!” said Toscani. So for months every day the newspaper published photos of the users chosen by Toscani himself: “Let us all take a self-portrait as recluses, as prisoners of ourselves.”
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