Breaking norms & taboos

Star photographer Oliviero Toscani dies at the age of 82

Mourning for photography legend Oliviero Toscani

(Bild: picturedesk.com/Daniel Dal Zennaro / Zuma)

The Italian star photographer Oliviero Toscani died on Monday at the age of 82. This was announced by his family. He died in a hospital in the Tuscan town of Cecina, where he was staying after his health deteriorated last week. 

He had been suffering from the incurable disease amyloidosis for two years, due to which he had lost over 40 kilos.

Born in Milan, Toscani was one of the biggest names in international photography: his advertising campaigns were a constant source of controversy. Since the 1980s, he had repeatedly caused a stir with his campaigns for the fashion chain "United Colors of Benetton", with shocking images of bleeding soldiers, the terminally ill and HIV-positive people.

Breaking norms and taboos
Toscani, who had lived in Tuscany for years, had become known for breaking norms and taboos in his photographic work. His pictures of a terminally ill AIDS patient, a newborn baby still covered in blood, an anorexic or a "penis calendar" caused a great stir and also attracted hostility. In the late 1980s, for example, he was accused of racism after a campaign showing a black woman breastfeeding a white baby.

In 2018, his decision to use a photo of migrants rescued from a sinking ship as the image for a new Benetton campaign caused controversy: Matteo Salvini, then Minister of the Interior, described the image as unacceptable and called for a boycott of the Benetton brand.

he had repeatedly caused controversy with his shock images.

(Bild: picturedesk.com/LaPresse)

"Was always free"
Last August, Toscani had himself photographed for the Milan daily newspaper "Corriere della Sera" looking severely emaciated. He complained that he had lost 40 kilos due to his illness. "You don't know how much time I have left to live, but of course I'm not interested in living like this," explained the photographer, who had undergone experimental treatment.

"I never thought I would experience something like this, it's a new situation to face," Toscani added. He is not afraid of dying, "as long as it doesn't hurt". "Besides, I've lived too much and too well, I'm spoiled. I never had an employer, I was always free," said the father of three.