“I am immortal until the day I am no longer.”Oliviero Toscani liked to repeat. The most famous Italian photographer died a few weeks before his 83rd birthday. He revealed last summer in an interview with Corriere della Sera the illness that afflicted him, amyloidosis, a rare and serious pathology. “Provocation for me: it’s only a consequence” explained Oliviero Toscani for whom it was second nature. “What else does a doctor do when he provokes his patient’s body into a reaction with a treatment? To create is necessarily to provoke. »
He did so practically from his birth in Milan on February 26, 1942. His father Fedele was none other than the first photo reporter for Corriere della Sera. “I quickly realized that advertising photography, for fashion in particular, had much more power than press photography, to pose a social question” Oliviero Toscani will explain.
His photos can be found in the pages of the biggest fashion magazines: Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire and Elle. He puts his talent and creativity at the service of prestigious brands: Chanel, Esprit… but especially Benetton. His name will remain inseparable from the Italian ready-to-wear brand. For almost twenty years, between 1982 and 2000, he was the artistic director of United Colors of Benetton. He then delivers advertising campaigns that are landmarks and mark the collective imagination.
Abandoning the tradition of “neutral” advertising which should flatter the consumer, he does not hesitate to shock him by addressing divisive social issues: apartheid, anorexia, violence against women, or the degradation of the Italian landscape. … Among the most famous scandals of which he was at the origin, sometimes causing the publication of his photos to be banned: a man dying of AIDS (1992), people sentenced to death in the United States (2000), a black woman breast-feeding a white child or a cornetteed nun kissing a young priest.
His works are exhibited in museums around the world. He received four awards at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity, one of the most important awards in the advertising and communications sector.