Oliviero Toscani passed away at the age of 82.
A world-famous photographer, born in 1942, he began taking pictures at just 14 years old, inaugurating his career with one of the strongest images he could capture, the face of Rachele Mussolini during her husband’s burial in Predappio.
He himself will talk about that first photograph in the book Dear Avedon (Solferino, 2020) dedicated to the great masters of photography:
«I climbed between the crosses of the cemetery; there was a large crowd, black shirts, police, chaos and confusion. It was then that, a little to the side, I noticed a black Fita 1400 parked away from curious eyes. Two carabinieri greeted a woman dressed entirely in black, her face hidden by a veil. I crawled closer. I tried to photograph her as she advanced. The fascists noticed me and pushed me away, but I managed to take the shot before falling. When we returned to Milan, my father developed the roll of film. Surprisingly, he showed me the last negative and exclaimed: “Oliviero! Today you are the author of the photograph of the day!”. That is how the photo of Rachele Mussolini in mourning went around the world. And that is how I decided to become a photographer».
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Oliviero Toscani, Chi mi ama mi segua
Many years later, he rose to prominence thanks to an advertising campaign created for Benetton entitled Chi mi ama mi segua (Whoever loves me, follow me), for which, among other things, he was also accused of blasphemy by the Vatican, given the claim in one of the photographs: You will have no jeans but me.
In the following 60 years of his career, Toscani never betrayed himself nor the provocative and reactionary nature of his shots.
A book wouldn’t be enough to list them all, but perhaps the most iconic remains the one depicting a nun and a priest kissing.
Celebrities and Human Race
Oliviero Toscani , over the years, he has taken thousands of shots immortalising the most influential celebrities of the century: from John Lennon to Andy Warhol, from Muhammad Ali to Lou Reed, Federico Fellini, international models like Claudia Schiffer, actresses like Monica Bellucci, fino in tempi più recenti il tennista Jannik Sinner.
In the early 2000s, he created the Razza Umana project, a gallery of portraits of various humanity, a sort of census of the different somatic and social characteristics of humanity.
Ad Oliviero Toscani Numerous exhibitions have also been dedicated in Europe and around the world, such as the one in 2022 to Palazzo Reale di Milano, titled Oliviero Toscani : Professione Fotografo.
Today one of the greatest photographers ever born passed away.
