News -> Henri Cartier-Bresson photographs of Ghandi go to India
Neville Tuli, the owner of Osian’s auction house in Mumbai, has bought a collection of 45 original silver print photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson taken before and after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The French photo-journalist, who died in 2004, was introduced to Gandhi on 30 January 1948 and was with him just before he was shot. He later captured the aftermath of the tragedy, including Jawaharlal Nehru’s announcement to the shocked crowds.
Mr Tuli paid £80,000 for the photographs from an unnamed London dealer, laying out an additional 17.5% duty to bring them into India. This is believed to be the highest price ever paid for a collection of photographs by an Indian buyer.
Mr Tuli also recently purchased a collection of 4,000 books on Gandhi and the Indian freedom movement as part of a huge cultural archive that he envisions as part of a private university he plans to build in India. “The depiction of Gandhiji through various media, from painting to calendar art to toys to photography, will only add to the sharing of his idealism with our people,” says Mr Tuli.
The Gandhi collection will be exhibited in the Osianama, a new arts centre Mr Tuli is set to open in the historic Minerva Cinema in Mumbai in January 2008. He describes it as “an integrated institution for cinema, the fine arts, pop culture, architecture, literature and philosophy, which will house the auction house, film archive, post-production facilities, permanent exhibition spaces and two or three screens”.
Osian’s is also opening a new office in Dubai this month where the wealthy Indian population and proximity to Mumbai has recently attracted auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s as well as the new DIFC Gulf Art Fair.
Mr Tuli paid £80,000 for the photographs from an unnamed London dealer, laying out an additional 17.5% duty to bring them into India. This is believed to be the highest price ever paid for a collection of photographs by an Indian buyer.
Mr Tuli also recently purchased a collection of 4,000 books on Gandhi and the Indian freedom movement as part of a huge cultural archive that he envisions as part of a private university he plans to build in India. “The depiction of Gandhiji through various media, from painting to calendar art to toys to photography, will only add to the sharing of his idealism with our people,” says Mr Tuli.
The Gandhi collection will be exhibited in the Osianama, a new arts centre Mr Tuli is set to open in the historic Minerva Cinema in Mumbai in January 2008. He describes it as “an integrated institution for cinema, the fine arts, pop culture, architecture, literature and philosophy, which will house the auction house, film archive, post-production facilities, permanent exhibition spaces and two or three screens”.
Osian’s is also opening a new office in Dubai this month where the wealthy Indian population and proximity to Mumbai has recently attracted auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s as well as the new DIFC Gulf Art Fair.
