David Nahmad
| David Nahmad | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1947 (age 68–69) Beirut, Lebanon |
| Residence | Monaco |
| Occupation | retired art dealer |
| Net worth | $3 billion (2013) |
| Children | Helly Nahmad |
| Parent(s) |
Hillel Nahmad Mathilde Safra |
| Relatives |
Joseph (Giuseppe) (brother) Ezra (brother) Edmond Safra (cousin) |
David Nahmad (born 1947, in Beirut, Lebanon) is a retired fine art dealer and billionaire.[1] A descendant of a Jewish Lebanese art family residing in Monaco and cousin of defunct Edmond Safra, he and his relations are perhaps the single biggest buying force in fine art.[1] As of 2013, David Nahmad and his family's net worth was estimated at $3 billion, ranking him with his family at 377 on the Forbes billionaires list.[2]
Origin
The roots of the Nahmad family are in Aleppo, Syria, where Sephardic Jewish[3] banker Hillel Nahmad lived until just after the Second World War. Following anti-Jewish violence in 1947, Hillel Nahmad moved to Beirut, Lebanon and when the situation there became difficult, Hillel took his three sons, Joseph (Giuseppe), Ezra and David, to Milan in the early 1960s.
Art dealing
As teenagers in the 1960s, they began to deal in art. Ezra and David skip school to trade on the Italian stock market. At a Juan Gris exhibition in Rome organised by cubist dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Ezra and David bought two works – the only pieces sold. Kahnweiler befriended them, selling them works by Picasso, Braque, Gris.[4] With the emergence of the Red Brigades terror group in the 1970s, Milan was perceived as too dangerous, and the family moved again. Joseph and Ezra headed for Monaco, and David to New York.
Helly Nahmad Gallery, on Madison Avenue, is a company run by David’s son Hillel "Helly" Nahmad, who took over his father’s earlier Davlyn Gallery in 2000.
Jeffrey Deitch, a former dealer and current director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, once described the Nahmads as "like a major brokerage firm in the stock market", adding: "The market needs a force like this to function."[3]
Seated Man with a Cane
On 8 April 2016, the French newspaper Le Monde reported that, as revealed in the Panama papers affair, David Nahmad was the owner of the Panamian company, International Art Center (IAC). IAC had purchased a work by Modigliani, "Man Seated," of 1918. This painting had been sold out of the possessions of Jewish art dealer Oscar Stettiner by an administrator appointed under the Nazi occupation of Paris.[5] Le Monde reported that in a court case brought by the grandson of the Jewish art dealer who claims possession of the painting, lawyers for the Nahmad family claimed that they had no connection to or knowledge of IAC. [6]
Personal life
David Nahmad is also the 1996 Backgammon World Champion,[7] and is known for betting large amounts of money on the game.
References
- 1 2 Archived April 14, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "The World's Billionaires List". Forbes. 2013-08-26. Retrieved 2013-09-15.
- 1 2 Peter Aspden (December 21, 2012), Art dealer who bought and sold with immaculate timing Financial Times.
- ↑ Jackie Wullschlager (November 11, 2011), Lunch with the FT: Helly Nahmad Financial Times.
- ↑ Katrin Langhans, Frederik Obermaier, Bastian Obermayer, Kia Vahland: Panama Painting. Über einen von den Nazis geraubten Modigliani, der vor seinem rechtmäßigen Eigentümer versteckt wird. Süddeutsche Zeitung, April 9, 2016, p. 11-13, listing the whereabouts of the painting since 1930.
- ↑ Nathaniel Herzberg, "'Panama Papers': Le Modigliani etait bien cache," Le Monde, April 8, 2016.
- ↑ "Backgammon Hall of Fame". Bkgm.com. Retrieved 2013-09-15.
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