Italian star photographer Oliviero Toscani died on Monday at the age of 82. His family announced this. He died in a hospital in the Tuscan town of Cecina, where he had been staying after his health deteriorated last week.
He had been suffering from the incurable disease amyloidosis for two years, which caused him to lose more than 40 kilos.
Born in Milan, Toscani was one of the big names in international photography: he repeatedly caused debate with his advertising campaigns. Since the 1980s, he has caused a stir several times with his campaigns for the fashion chain ‘United Colors of Benetton’, with shocking images of bleeding soldiers, terminally ill people and HIV-positive people.
Norms and taboos broken
Toscani, who had lived in Tuscany for years, became known for breaking norms and taboos in his photographic work. Among other things, he caused a stir and aroused hostility with photos of an AIDS patient in the final stages, a newborn still covered in blood, an anorexic person or a ‘penis calendar’. For example, in the late 1980s he was accused of racism after a campaign in which a black woman breastfed a white baby.
In 2018, his decision to use a photo of migrants rescued from a sinking ship as an image for a new Benetton campaign caused controversy: then Interior Minister Matteo Salvini called the photo unacceptable and called for a boycott of the Benetton brand .
“Was always free”
Last August, Toscani had himself photographed extremely emaciated for the Milanese daily newspaper ‘Corriere della Sera’. 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 underwent experimental treatment.
“I never thought I would experience something like this, it is a new situation to deal with,” 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,” says the father of three children.
Source: Krone
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