Italian Visionary Oliviero Toscani, Creator of Iconic Fashion Campaigns, Passes Away at 82

Oliviero Toscani, the Italian photographer renowned for his controversial advertising strategies that ignited intense discussions and garnered various accolades, passed away on Monday, leading to an outpouring of homage from cultural personalities globally. He was 82 years old.

Toscani’s daring visuals for the Benetton fashion brand highlighted matters from racism to the death penalty and were instrumental in transforming the brand into an international name. Among his most contentious images was one portraying a nun and priest kissing, which was ultimately prohibited in Italy, along with a photograph of David Kirby, an AIDS sufferer, taken on his deathbed surrounded by relatives. This image led to a boycott of the brand, although Kirby’s family stated that the campaign elevated awareness about the illness.

“There were swift effects on our reputation, often accompanied by harsh disputes,” Luciano Benetton, a co-founder of the Benetton Group, expressed to the newspaper Corriere della Sera after Oliviero’s passing. “However, it was worthwhile.” A campaign showcasing photos of men on death row in the United States accompanied by the text “sentenced to death,” reportedly led Toscani to separate from the label in 2000, following 18 years of collaboration.

Born in Milan, Toscani, whose father was a celebrated photojournalist for Corriere della Sera, pursued his education in photography at the Zurich University of Arts. “I had exceptional instructors coming directly from Bauhaus,” he remarked to the lifestyle magazine Dazed & Confused in 2013.

Shortly after, he commenced his career in fashion publications such as Elle, Vogue, L’Uomo Vogue, and Harper’s Bazaar, building a reputation for advertising efforts that intertwined art, marketing, and activism. “I’m the most ineffective advertising photographer globally,” he stated to Dazed & Confused. “Other photographers seek approval, but I have no interest in that.”

His controversies expanded beyond his association with Benetton. In 2007, a campaign initiated by Italian

<|vq_8758|>fashion label Nolita during Milan fashion week, showcased Toscani’s image of the model Isabelle Caro, who was battling anorexia and portrayed nude. The initiative, aimed at increasing awareness about the disorder, faced bans in numerous nations yet sparked extensive dialogue.

Toscani resumed collaboration with Benetton in 2017 but separated from the brand three years later, seemingly due to his downplaying the collapse of Genoa’s Morandi Bridge, which resulted in 43 fatalities.

Toscani’s passing was announced by his spouse and children in an Instagram post Monday morning, merely a week after a significant retrospective of his works concluded at Zurich’s Museum of Design. While his family refrained from detailing the cause of death, Toscani had disclosed in an August interview with Corriere della Sera that he was battling amyloidosis, an uncommon ailment where a protein accumulates in organs. He mentioned in the publication that he was uncertain about the duration of his life expectancy.

In the wake of his death, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, located in Cinisello Balsamo near Milan, referred to Toscani as a “trailblazer in the realm of advertising”. Designer Giorgio Armani remarked that the “visual power of his expression set a benchmark”.

“He possessed the ability to mold visual communication, transforming it into a compelling means for interaction and societal contemplation,” noted Alessandro Giuli, Italy’s culture minister. “His photography served as a tool for provocation, condemnation, and discourse.”