Oliviero Toscani death: Photographer known for provocative Benetton campaigns dies aged 82
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The former art director’s campaigns focused on social themes like the AIDS pandemic, racism, death penalty, and war. Oliviero Toscani, the fashion photographer and art director known for Italian clothing brand Benetton’s provocative advertising campaigns, has died. He was 82.
Toscani had been admitted to hospital on Friday in Cecina, near his Tuscan country home, in a very serious condition. His family confirmed the news of his death in a statement. “It is with great sorrow that we announce the news that today, 13 January 2025, our beloved Oliviero has embarked on his next journey,” Toscani’s wife Kirsti wrote in a post on Instagram.
In an interview last year in August with the Corriere della Sera newspaper, he revealed that he was suffering from amyloidosis, a rare incurable condition that causes abnormal proteins called amyloid fibrils to build up in organs and tissues. He added that he had lost 40kg in weight as well.
United Colours of Benetton shared a tribute to him on social media, with a photo Toscani had taken in 1989. “In order to explain certain things, words simply don’t suffice. You taught us that. And with that said, we’d like to pay tribute to you with a photo that you took for us many years ago, in 1989. Farewell Oliviero. Keep on dreaming,” the statement read.
Born in Milan on 28 February 1942, Toscani studied in an art school in Zurich and followed his photojournalist father, Fedele Toscani, to train as one himself. He went on to work for several leading fashion magazines like Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, and GQ, shooting John Lennon, Andy Warhol, Federico Fellini, and has been credited with helping establish models like Monica Bellucci.
