Farewell to Oliviero Toscani: with his lens, he immortalized the “colors” of biodiversity

“As long as there has been photography there has been history” and “if there had been a camera, maybe Jesus would not be Jesus, Napoleon would not have the monuments he has, and maybe Garibaldi would not have either”. Photography “explains the human condition, and if one wants to see biodiversity, camera is needed. I don’t take pictures of landscapes, I photograph human beings” all around the world: “we learn a lot, we see local history, we understand the reasons of diversity. Which, luckily, exist, but, that, unfortunately, scare many people because they are limited in their own culture, and intelligence”. Thoughts by Oliviero Toscani, one of the most influential photographers in Italian and international panorama, collaborator of the most important magazines in the world, and famous for his partnership with the Benetton family, who passed away, today, at the age of 82, explained to WineNews, which, more than once, collected his revolutionary ideas also about wine & food communication. A world of which he was really passionate and at which he aimed, but in which he was also a wine producer of the winery he founded, “Ot - Azienda Agricola Toscani”, on the hills of Casale Marittimo, Pisa, among vineyards of Syrah, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot, today managed by his son Rocco and his family.
Born in Milan on 1942, February, 28,  Oliviero Toscani has dedicated his life to photography. His first photo was published when he was just 14 years old: going with his father to Predappio for the burial of Benito Mussolini, he paused on the regretful face of Rachele Mussolini, and the portrait was published on “Corriere della Sera”. In 1973, he signed, in his style which will then become iconic, the advertisements of Jesus Italian jeans with the hermaphroditic chest of a model with unbuttoned jeans which let one see the pubis without underwear, and the claim “You won’t have any other jeans apart from me”, and the b-side of the woman model Jordan with very short shorts, and the slogan “Who loves me, follows me”: the Vatican, on “L’Osservatore Romano”, accuses the inventors of the advertisement of blasphemy, Pier Paolo Pasolini, on “Corriere della Sera” prophetically defines the advertisement as “the new spirit of the second industrial revolution”. The first promotional campaign by Benetton dates back to the beginnings of the Eighties (an almost 20-year-long partnership, thanks to the friendship with Luciano Benetton, 1982-2000), with the group of smiling guys and girls of different ethnicity on a white background, and the slogan “All the colors of the world”, before a series of revolutionary and challenging campaigns about diversity – a Russian male child, and an American female child hugging, a Palestinian guy, and an Arabic guy handling together a globe – which becomes the brand United Colors of Benetton. From the collage of passport photos making up word Aids at the beginnings of the Nineties, when talking about it was a taboo, up to the special number of magazine “Colors”, founded con Tibor Kalman, dedicated to the pandemic, by the gigantic condom unrolled on the obelisk of Place de la Concorde in Paris, to the priest who touches slightly the lips of a nun, by nudes” such as San Francesco, who got undressed by the clothing and richness of devils”, up to the integration, with the photo of a class made up of 28 children of 13 nationalities of 4 continents: these are all images which created debate, made one reflect, and inspired knowledge which made him the inventor of “shock advertising” - implementing a controversial content to gain attention – as Italian media, and not only, today, recall. He changed the way of communication what he had photographed seizing the lesson by Andy Wahrol, according to which “all the photography is Pop”. And, also the last photo with which Benetton recalls him on social media could not be “a photo which you took for us many years ago, in 1989. Farewell to Oliviero, keep on dreaming”.
In the world of wine & food, Oliviero Toscani was connected, among other, by a deep friendship with Angelo Gaja, the “artisan” of Italian wine for excellence, one of the most admired Italian producers in the world, who often met him in Piedmont, and in Tuscany, and also this brought him several times to bump into his steps with those of Italian wine, not only in his earth, but also in Suvereto, and, particularly, by collaborating in different artistic projects with Vittorio Moretti, and his family, heading, next to company Bellavista and Contadi Castaldi, in Franciacorta, and not only, Petra,one of the most important Italian author’s companies, signed by architect Mario Botta. And, still, from Bolgheri to Montalcino, where, in 1996, he was among the first poster people of “Benvenuto Brunello”, and of harvest 1995 of the famous Italian red wine, awarded with “five stars” (and in which, in an author’s photo can boast “his look” in a face of colors by the eyes in which the shadows recall those of wine).
Love for human biodiversity, and of nature overall saw Oliviero Toscani working also with Slow Food giving a face to “Mother Earth” (the photos in which he immortalized the districts at risk of extinction, among the occasions in which we have interviewed him, in Turin, are unforgettable), connected by a deep human, personal, and professional bond with the founder of Chiocciola Carlin Petrini. And, unveiling us, as all food, including wine, is “pop” because feeding ourselves makes us all equal.