Oliviero Toscani
in Oliviero Toscani

A film by Francesco G. Raganato | 2014

Italy
it
en
25'

Oliviero Toscani in Oliviero Toscani

Trailer

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Synopsis

A priest and a nun locked in a passionate kiss, an AIDS patient on his deathbed, death row inmates in the United States, apartheid in South Africa, an Israeli embracing a Palestinian: Oliviero Toscani (1942–2025) was the creative force behind Benetton’s legendary campaigns, with their pop aesthetic and unflinchingly political gaze. From racism to the death penalty, and from war to ecology, the Italian photographer saw advertising as a way of speaking out about the state of the world. This documentary traces a sixty-year career in which controversy became his trademark. While several of his campaigns were banned in France and Italy, Toscani saw his photographs simply as a way of awakening public awareness.

What you will find in this film

The photographer behind Benetton's shock campaigns • An icon of advertising photography • Provocation in the service of strong values • Advertising as a tool for social criticism • A witness to his time • Freedom above all

Keywords

Masters of Photography The Artist at Work Reportage & Society Fashion Photography Showcasing Photography

I have never been a fashion photographer, never a reporter, a still-life photographer or an advertising one. I am someone with a head, a brain, a heart, who photographs things as he sees them. I am a witness to my time.

Oliviero Toscani Photographer

For me, provocation has a very positive connotation. Perhaps it frightens people because very few have the courage to embrace provocation and tell themselves: “ Yes, maybe I can see things differently. ”

Oliviero Toscani

I used advertising to say what I wanted to say on an international level.

Oliviero Toscani Photographer

The only duty of an artist is to be what they are.

Oliviero Toscani Photographer

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The authors/artists

Oliviero Toscani

Oliviero Toscani

Francesco G. Raganato

Francesco G. Raganato

Further exploration

Oliviero Toscani (ed. Tommaso Basilio) – Oliviero Toscani: More Than Fifty Years of Magnificent Failures, Carlton Books / Welbeck, 2016. (English)

Lorella Pagnucco Salvemini – United Colors: The Benetton Campaigns, Scriptum Editions, 2002. (English)

Jonathan Mantle – Benetton, Sphere, 2000. (English)

Susan Sontag – Regarding the Pain of Others, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. (English)

Jean Baudrillard – The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures, SAGE Publications Ltd, 2016. (English)

How photographer Oliviero Toscani and Benetton changed advertising – i-D – feature / interview-based.

Looking at death in the Face – Benetton Group – press release / statement.

Artistic strategies in Oliviero Toscani’s advertising – Klironomy – academic article (PDF).

Benetton’s (In)Equality: A Semiotic Reading – Paradigma (UI ScholarHub) – peer-reviewed article.

Death as a Salesman: Beneton Ad Campaign Comes to Death Row – Prison Legal News – investigative / critical article.