Oliviero Toscani died this Monday, aged 82.
Italian photographer, responsible for advertising campaigns considered revolutionary for the clothing brand Benetton, died this Monday at the age of 82 after a long illness, his family announced.
“It is with immense sadness that we announce that today, January 13, 2025, our beloved Oliviero began his next journey,” the family wrote on social media.
Born on February 28, 1942 in Milan, northern Italy, Oliviero Toscani built his career based on provocationwith emphasis on campaigns for the Italian clothing group Benetton from 1983 onwards.
The photographer revealed in August 2024 that he suffered from amyloidosisa rare and incurable disease that creates insoluble protein deposits in tissues.
“I’m not afraid of dying, as long as it’s not painful,” he said in an interview with the Milan newspaper, .
From the nun kissing the priest to the black woman breastfeeding the white woman
“I hate artistic photography”, said Toscani in 2010. “A photograph becomes art when it provokes a reaction, be it interest, curiosity or attention”, he said about photographic works identified as controversial.
Several of the United Colors of Benetton campaigns were prohibited in Italy, but also in France. When asked recently which photograph he would choose if he had to highlight just one, he responded that the various collections worked as a unit.
“As a whole and because of the commitment, it is not a photo that makes history, it is the ethical, aesthetic and political choice,” he said.
These campaigns, which were global in scale, showed a man dying of AIDS, a nun hugging a young priest (1992), inmates on death row in the United States (2000) or .
in 1990, created his “Pietà”
With this campaign he contributed to raising public awareness on the issue of.
— Dalila Adrower NoWar #savetheplanet🏳️🌈🌍✊☮👠 (@DalilaAdrower)
Oliviero Toscani – Kissing Nun (for Benetton – 1992)
— Andy 📷🎬💿🎨📚 (@__Charbon__)
Sentenced to death campaign, death penalty for state murder
— Lina M. (@ImSophiaPLMS)
