Neville Tuli

Neville Tuli (born 24 April 1964) is the Founder Chairman of the "Osian’s" Group of companies. The Group includes the Parent Company, "Osian’s Connoisseurs of Art Pvt. Ltd." (Estd. 2000) and its two Subsidiary Companies, being "Osian’s Cinematic Pvt. Ltd." (Estd. 2007) and "Osianama Learning Experience Pvt. Ltd." (Estd. 2009). Neville Tuli was declared as defaulter by IDBI Bank for failing to pay an outstanding sum or Rs59.20 crore as on 1 March 2015. http://indiankanoon.org/doc/93901847/

http://indiankanoon.org/doc/93901847/ Educated as an economist & developmental theorist at LSE & St. Catherine’s College (University of Oxford), Tuli returned to India in 1993 after 25 years in the West, devoting his endeavors towards his vision to build a new financially self-sufficient holistic infrastructure for the Indian arts, culture & its education. Sensing the need to understand the artistic and cultural systems at every level, he traveled across the country exploring the Indian fine arts, cinema and architectural heritage disciplines.

In 1996, Tuli established HEART (The Tuli Foundation for Holistic Education & Art), aimed to help build a quality-conscious infrastructure for the Indian fine arts. The process by which this was established was unique, as it did not rely on government funding, corporate sponsorship or private donations. In 1997 he wrote the publication The Flamed Mosaic: Indian Contemporary Painting, on the aesthetics and history of Indian Modern & Contemporary Painting. In the same year, The Intuitive-logic: A Festival of Indian Contemporary Painting was organized in Mumbai (1 March – 19 April 1997). The festival was structured mostly through the resources of HEART and the goodwill of art lovers.

It was becoming clear that without a vibrant financial infrastructure for the arts, creating a credible educational base for the subjects was difficult. In this context auctions were important in increasing awareness regarding the financial aspects of art. In October 1997 The Intuitive-logic II, the first successful international quality auction was held in India. The auction established record prices for many artists including Raja Ravi Varma whose painting fetched Rs. 32 lacs, the highest price ever for a modern Indian painting. The catalogue also set new standards for documentation and design. Osian's, India’s foremost arts and cultural institution was established by Neville Tuli in 2000, integrating creative, educational and corporate responsibilities in a radically new model. Osian's has now held over 40 Auctions.

The International quality Auctions and Art Advisory Services (began in 2001) generated the finance which in turn supported the Osian’s Archive. Built by Neville Tuli and Osian’s it is today a comprehensive textual and visual archive, Collection and Library. In 2002, a sensational new market and awareness for the popular arts, especially film memorabilia was created when it was placed on the same platform as Indian contemporary arts with the auction – A Historical Mela: The ABC of India. Subsequently, Neville Tuli acquired Cinefan [The Festival of Asian & Arab Cinema] and Cinemaya, the world’s first journal exclusively dedicated to Asian Cinema, in 2004, to broaden its cinema-infrastructure base and to complement its vast cinema archives. The Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival of Indian, Asian & Arab Cinema held in New Delhi now features on the International Film Festivals Calendar.

Owing to Neville Tuli’s deep seated passion for sports, Osian’s collaborated with the Durand Cup, a football tournament rooted in history & tradition. In 2013 sports memorabilia was given a boost when the first Auction of Cricket memorabilia was held in Mumbai.

Finally after twenty years of unrelenting effort towards researching & preserving artistic, cinematic & cultural heritage, in 2013 Neville Tuli and Osian’s launched osianama.com, an ambitious online knowledge-base with a vision to become a leading Learning and Educational Platform for the Indian Arts, Cinema and Cultural Heritage.

In 2014, Neville Tuli curated a unique Exhibition and Auction of artworks from the Indian & Asian Arts, Antiquities, Antiquarian Books, Prints & Photographs and Film memorabilia, which had been inspired by the world of animals - All Creatures Great & Small. Osian's will be cultivating, researching & promoting this subject in the years to come.

• 1997, Intuitive Logic: A Festival of Indian Modern & Contemporary Painting, Mumbai.
• 2004, The Underlying Spirit, New Delhi.
• 2005, Revisualising India, New Delhi.
• 2006, The Osian Asian, New Delhi.
• 2007, An Historical Epic (exhibition in three parts), New Delhi.
• 2008, The Osian Asian II, New Delhi.
• 2011, Indian Contemporary Art: The Intuitive – Logic Revisited From the Osian's Collection at the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland.