Oliviero Toscani - Bambole Kokeshi - 1999

Oliviero Toscani, Kokeshi Dolls. United Colours of Benetton, 1999. Softcover, 96 pages with dozens of color photographs. Photographs by Oliviero Toscani. First and only edition. In excellent condition - minimal signs of use on the cover.
The 'Kokeshi Dolls' project was created in 1999 by Oliviero Toscani, then artistic director of Benetton, and was inspired by the lively youth scene in the neighborhoods of Omotesando and Harajuku in Tokyo, also documented by Shoichi Aoki's magazine Fruits. The campaign and catalog explored the unique and unconventional style of Japanese youth, characterized by a mix of piercings, colorful clothing, and traditional wooden clogs, in pure 'Fresh Fruits' style.
The goal was to celebrate creativity and imagination against the 'provincialism of all-black/gray' typical of some parts of Western fashion, embodying the values of diversity and integration promoted by Benetton. The catalog included a text (an introduction or poem) by the renowned Japanese writer Banana Yoshimoto, translated by Giorgio Amitrano.
Oliviero Toscani (Milan, February 28, 1942 – Cecina, January 13, 2025) was an Italian photographer.
Fedele and Dolores Cantoni, from Lombardy, are their parents. The father, Fedele Toscani, is one of the historic photojournalists of Corriere della Sera. His sister, Marirosa Toscani, will, together with her future husband, Aldo Ballo, be part of the studio Ballo&Ballo, one of the most important architectural, interior, and design photography studios.
Photograph of Don Lorenzo Milani in Barbiana (Vicchio), published by L'Espresso in 1959 (author: Oliviero Toscani).
He published his first photo in the Corriere at the age of 14. As he recounts himself in the book Dear Avedon, he accompanied his father to Predappio for Mussolini's burial. While Fedele Toscani photographed the ceremony in its entirety, he focused on the sorrowful face of Rachele Mussolini, and the portrait ended up in the Corriere. After studying at Vittorio Veneto High School in Milan, in 1965 he graduated in photography from the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich, where he was a student of Serge Stauffer, a specialist in Marcel Duchamp, and artist Karl Schmid.

He almost immediately starts working in advertising, with his first campaign for the Algida Cornetto. He presents a proposal with a casual shot of three girls riding a tandem, enjoying the ice cream. The proposal is very well received, he gets the commission, and the young Toscani demands high-level models from Paris, as well as top stylists and makeup artists for the final shot.

In 1972, Oliviero Toscani participated as a testimonial in the advertising carousels for the men's clothing company Facis. Alongside Toscani appeared his brother-in-law Aldo Ballo, Sergio Libis, and Alfa Castaldi.

In 1973, he signed advertisements for the Italian-branded Jesus jeans alongside copywriters Emanuele Pirella and Michael Goettsche from the agency Italia. One of these (which shows the semi-covered buttocks of model Donna Jordan with the slogan: 'Those who love me, follow me') would become one of his most iconic provocative campaigns, censored by the judiciary, politics, culture, and the Church.

According to Corriere della Sera, Pier Paolo Pasolini will defend him later.

He started early working for magazines such as Elle, Vogue, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Esquire, Stern, L'Uomo Vogue, and Donna, and creating photos for campaigns of some of the most important fashion brands like Valentino, Chanel, Fiorucci, Esprit, and Prénatal. In 1979, on the occasion of the 'Venezia 79 la fotografia' festival, he held a course on fashion photography with the participation of Franca Sozzani, who was then deputy editor of the magazine Lei, Condé Nast Editions.

It is difficult to separate Toscani's fashion editorial work from his advertising work. The major innovation in his approach to advertising photography is his full engagement with current social issues and integrating them into glossy advertising pages. This new approach culminated in his relationship, begun in 1982, with the Benetton company. Toscani manages the shooting and concept of the advertising campaigns: themes such as equality, the mafia, the fight against homophobia, combating the spread of AIDS, the pursuit of peace, and the abolition of the death penalty are for the first time proposed on billboards and in advertisements. Whereas traditional fashion photography once used everyday life as a pretext to talk about a fashion brand, now the fashion brand becomes a pretext to promote social awareness campaigns.

In 1991, under the aegis of Benetton, he launched the magazine Colors, and in 1994, Fabrica, an international center for arts and modern communication research, whose headquarters were designed by Japanese architect Tadao Andō. Fabrica has produced editorial projects, books, exhibitions, and displays. From 1999 to 2000, he was the creative director of the monthly magazine Talk Miramax in New York, directed by Tina Brown. In 2000, he ended his collaboration with the Benetton group following a controversial campaign that used real photos of death row inmates in the United States, which led to retaliatory actions against the fashion house. During the 2000s, he worked on campaigns for the brand RaRe, which focused on the theme of homophobia, and for the company Nolita Pocket. These campaigns often encountered conflicts with the Institute of Self-Regulation of Advertising.

In 2004, he created the La Sterpaia modern communication research center. The center, located within the San Rossore Park natural reserve (Pisa), is a laboratory where, following the workshop methodology, students are guided by expert tutors in the field. The courses, lasting 3 or 6 months, are open to a very limited number of photographers, graphic designers, writers, and directors. In the same year, he coordinated the publication of 30 ans de Libération, a volume that recounts the last thirty years of history based on articles from the French newspaper Libération.

Still in 2004, he/she/they led the road safety campaign 'Do Not Kill' in collaboration with the State Police and Genertel.

In September 2006, he took on the role of artistic director for Music Box, an interactive channel on the Sky platform. The music videos (chosen by viewers from home via email or SMS) are 'disturbed' by 'viral pills' created by the creative team at La Sterpaia under Toscani's supervision. On the same network, Toscani hosts the talk show Camera Oscura.

In 2007, Nolita launched a shocking campaign against anorexia nervosa by photographing French model and actress Isabelle Caro, who was suffering from anorexia, weighing 31 kilograms at a height of 1.64 meters. Due to the starkness of the images, the campaign divided the public and critics, with some considering it educational for young people and others viewing it as an episode of sensationalist advertising. The model died on November 17, 2010.

Also in 2007, the agency Saatchi & Saatchi awarded Oliviero Toscani as Creative Hero during the Clio Awards evening in Miami. That year also marked the launch of Toscani's project 'Human Race,' a photographic survey of various human morphologies and conditions, aiming to catalog all expressions and somatic, social, and cultural characteristics of humanity, starting with over 100 Italian municipalities, Israel, Palestine, and Guatemala.

On the occasion of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the National Health Service, Oliviero Toscani signs, for the Ministry of Health, the communication campaign 'Bread, Love and Health.' He also collaborated with the same Ministry in 2008 on the campaign 'What race are you, human or inhuman?' launched to combat the leading cause of stray animals, which is the abandonment of dogs.

In 2008, during the 61st edition of the Locarno Film Festival, the film Anorexia was presented, a story about an image by Argentine director Leandro Manuel Emede. It is a documentary that narrates the story of the No Anorexia photograph created by Toscani (see above): the documentary not only explores the conception of the photo but also vividly illustrates everything that happened after its release, mixing behind-the-scenes footage—not only press reviews but also interviews with critics and journalists.


Oliviero Toscani in 2008.
In 2010, the Florence Academy of Fine Arts appointed him as an Honorary Academician. In 2016, he participated as a judge in Master of Photography, a talent show reserved for amateur and professional photographers. In 2017, the Brescia Academy of Fine Arts awarded Toscani an honorary degree. In 2019, he received the lifetime achievement award from the German Art Director's Club.

In 2011, he curated the exhibition 'funcooldesign,' a retrospective of the JoeVelluto (JVLT) studio.

In 2014, he reported the Fratelli d'Italia party for using his photo without authorization in a campaign against gay adoptions. In October of that year, he launched a new radio project together with Nicolas Ballario: Non Sono Obiettivo; broadcast every Friday on Rai Radio 1, where anyone can participate by sending their contribution.

From 2018 to 2020, Toscani worked again for Benetton, overseeing the company's photographic campaigns and returning to serve as the artistic director of Fabrica, launching in this context the Fabrica Circus project, which involves creating a forge of Renaissance artists where creation has no limits or labels. During this period, Toscani revisited some of the themes dear to his work with Benetton, such as integration, through a campaign photographed inside a school in the Giambellino neighborhood of Milan, depicting 28 children of thirteen different nationalities. Toscani ended his relationship with the company in July 2020, after being dismissed following his statements about the collapse of the Ponte Morandi.

In September 2022, invited by Pietro Mereu, he went to Sardinia to photograph the centenarians of Ogliastra.

Political commitment
Toscani, in 1971, along with his father, signed the open letter to L'Espresso against Commissioner Luigi Calabresi. In May 2022, he declared that he does not renounce that appeal. Having aligned himself with the positions of the Radicals, he is an honorary president of Nessuno Tocchi Caino, an organization advocating for the universal moratorium on the death penalty affiliated with the Transnational Radical Party. He was a candidate for the Chamber of Deputies with the Radicals in 1996 for the Marco Pannella List and again in 2006 for Rosa nel Pugno. From 2007 to 2009, he hosted a program on Radio Radicale titled 'Fear Breeds Censorship,' together with one of his closest collaborators, Nicolas Ballario, the cultural officer of the La Sterpaia collective and a Radical leader. He supported the candidacy of former terrorist Sergio D'Elia in the 2009 European elections.

Since 2008, he has been an assessor for creativity in the municipality of Salemi, Sicily, with Vittorio Sgarbi as mayor, supported by the Union of the Centre. In Salemi, he proposed selling the town's old houses for a symbolic amount of 1 euro to facilitate quick restoration and attract media attention. One of the first to respond to the call was entrepreneur Massimo Moratti. In 2010, Toscani resigned from his position as assessor due to a strong 'conflict' with Mayor Sgarbi and former Sicilian deputy Giuseppe Giammarinaro. In 2013, he returned to Radio Radicale with the program 'Fatto in Italia,' always paired with Nicolas Ballario. In 2021, he challenged and denigrated the stance of Lega leader Matteo Salvini against the Ius soli proposed by Enrico Letta. In 2023, during an interview, he harshly criticized the actions of the Meloni government. In the same year, he declared himself 'happy that Berlusconi is no longer with us.'

In June 2023, he was diagnosed with amyloidosis, a fact made public in August 2024. The photographer stated that he had lost motivation and the will to live due to all the limitations imposed by the disease, not ruling out the possibility of resorting to assisted suicide.[49]

Toscani died on January 13, 2025, at the hospital in Cecina, in the province of Livorno, where he had been hospitalized for several days following a deterioration in his health. The photographer's funeral was held privately the following day; Toscani was then cremated at the municipal cemetery of Lupi in Livorno. On September 26, the municipality of Milan announced that Toscani's name would be inscribed in the hall of fame at the Milanese monumental cemetery. The ceremony took place on November 2.
Toscani has been repeatedly criticized for his shockvertising methods and has been sued more than once. In the 1990s, the Federal Court of Frankfurt ruled that his photographic representation of misfortunes and various forms of misery present in the world aims to evoke a sense of solidarity in the public towards the client company, Benetton. According to the German court, those who advertise in this way exploit feelings of shock or dismay provoked in the observer for the purpose of gaining notoriety.
In 2013, Toscani stated: "Women should be more sober, focus on being rather than appearing, only then can we avoid further cases of femicide." The photographer added that "[...] women should not wear makeup, put on lipstick, they should love themselves for who they are." Toscani expressed agreement with the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Laura Boldrini, who called for an end to the use of the female body in advertising, "even though the problem of violence against women is not solely due to the commodification of the female body in commercials, but stems from all communication and television in general." Women online reacted strongly, proposing a campaign to stop buying products advertised by Toscani."}#}#}
In January 2018, his eldest daughter, Olivia, stated about him: "Since my parents' separation, I have always heard him curse us, swearing, to the point of audaciously cursing our very lives (we were still children, alas). Our reconciliation will never be possible without a profound and heartfelt act of love and conversion. Today, Oliviero is a stranger with a significant human and moral debt."
In June 2018, the well-known Neapolitan photographer Francesco Cito gave an interview in which he raised an ethical issue regarding Benetton's advertising campaigns and Toscani, as he considered them complicit in the communication, making various observations. He criticized the use of Franco Zecchin's black-and-white photo of a mafia murder victim, a news event, purchased by Benetton and manipulated by Toscani to highlight the red color of the blood, used to sell Benetton products rather than to raise public awareness about mafia crimes. Similarly, the photo of the migrant boat by Kenny Karpov was used to sell T-shirts instead of using the proceeds to create reception centers. Moreover, there are privacy concerns because no one was asked if they agreed to have their images printed on T-shirts. Setting aside many other statements by Cito, the fundamental issue remains that Toscani never claimed those images were not his; in fact, the large posters that appeared in all Italian cities never mentioned the photographers' names, so it was reasonable to assume that the author was Toscani.
In December 2018, during an interview, he directed insulting terms at Giorgia Meloni, calling her ugly, vulgar, and retarded. The leader of Fratelli d'Italia, who responded to these insults, received support from several people, including those from other political backgrounds such as Alessia Morani of the Partito Democratico. Due to this attitude, Toscani was accused of misogyny.
In 2020, he was criticized for his statement 'who cares if a bridge falls' regarding the collapse of the Morandi bridge, receiving attacks from various political figures and the victims' relatives. Toscani later apologized.