Italian film director Tinto Brass, who was once hailed as the “Antonioni of the 70s” but came to be better known for bringing Italian erotic cinema to a wider audience with films such as Caligula and Salon Kitty, has died aged 93.

His wife Caterina Varzi and children Bonifacio and Beatrice Brass announced the news of the director’s death to Italian press agency Ansa on Wednesday.

Born in Milan and raised in Venice, Brass first started working in cinema after moving to Paris, where he was an editor and archivist at the Cinémathèque. Upon returning to Italy , he worked as an editor and assistant director to Roberto Rossellini.

His experimental and anarchic approach to film quickly earned him a reputation, and in 1964 he was commissioned by Umberto Eco to create two short films experimenting with visual language for the Triennale di Milano.…