By Madhusree Chatterjee. Delhi, India, 12:03 PM IST

The prestigious Mumbai-based art house Osian's is adding a new festival to India's art fiesta.

The first edition of the festival, Jashn-Osianama, will be held June 26-July 2 at the Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai and in the capital July 4-21. Presented by Osian's, the theme of the annual festival is '500 years of Violence and Non-Violence'.

The exhibition will be curated by Neville Tuli, founder of Osian's. Jashn will strive to narrow the gap between museum exhibitions and the traditional Indian 'mela' by opening up the Jehangir Art gallery to a free-wheeling spread of art that will display almost every genre - sourced from Osian's Archive and Library Collection.

The exhibition will feature classical and contemporary art, Japanese Samurai Art, Tibetan Thangkas, Rajasthani and Pahari miniatures, vintage world film memorabilia, antique and modern photography, all of which will be at the core of the festival this year.

However, Tuli promises to bring every kind of art from across the world under one roof in the subsequent editions of the festival.

'For the past nine years, I have been trying to take art out of the purview of the few and traverse all sections of society. I have built the Osian's Collection with very clear cut ideas and themes, such as the erotic, death, human face, the relationship between man, animal and nature, along with the history of the subjects. Within these broad frameworks, I have also explored the relationship between violence and non-violence and have woven it around various personalities,' Tuli told IANS from Mumbai.

Jashn-Osianama will explore the anatomy of violence and will examine how Indian and Hollywood art have dealt with it in various forms.

By Madhusree Chatterjee (Staff Writer, © IANS)