Oliviero Toscani's new book: Benetton photographer's autobiography

The MAG 08/22

REVIEW by Cristina Morozzi

"I've Seen It All. Life and Fortune of a Situationist." Oliviero Toscani new book is an autobiography of the famous Benetton photographer. Read the review.

To celebrate Oliviero Toscani’s 80th birthday, the Triennale di Milano design and art museum dedicated an evening to him by showing a film about his career as a photographer. Toscani offered his commentary in a collection of personal memoirs which were collected in a book published by Nave di Teseo (Milan, 2022), Ne ho fatte di tutti i colori. Vita e fortuna di un situazionista (I’ve Seen It All. Life and Fortune of a Situationist).

Toscani is an innovative photographer who has always gone against the grain, and in his career – which has spanned over a half-century – he has revolutionized the world of fashion and communication, thanks also to his partnership with and campaigns for Luciano Benetton. His courageous messages are not only advertisements but also serve political and social purposes.

In his book Toscani recounts his lengthy career, from his art studies in Zurich to his adventures as an amateur in the USA, where he pitched himself to glossy magazines and went to parties with Andy Warhol, photographing Muhammad Ali and creating new ways of recounting beauty.

For research center Fabrica – founded in 1994 by Luciano Benetton and magazine Colors, which Toscani founded along with Luciano Benetton – he invented new ways of communication: moving images, models recruited from the streets, models in mini-dresses, nuns in habits, and people from different races with childlike faces all together in a big embrace for billboards in city centers.

With his photographs he has unabashedly tackled hot topics like anorexia, photographing a skeletal young woman nude, and the war in Yugoslavia with an image of a pair of camouflage pants and a bloody t-shirt. He also designed the now-prophetic Colors cover decrying genocide, with a large bloody stain and the words War/Guerra in a bold, white, all-caps font, and authored the Razza Umana (Human Race) series of photographs, including a shot of a priest and nun kissing.

His book – which you could read in a single sitting – is one that talks about using photography to address important political and social issues.