The once-quiet Nahmads are getting lots of press in the art world these days. Artnet profiles Joseph Nahmad who has embarked on a plan to open a few pop-up galleries selling contemporary art. Meanwhile, the site indulges the youngest Nahmad with a little market-making bravado
Joseph Nahmad bought his first painting two years ago — when he was 19 years old. “I saw this amazing Lucio Fontana at Sotheby’s in London, and I called my father,” he said recently over chamomile tea at Café Carlyle. “But I couldn’t reach him, so I bought it on a whim.” It was one of the artist’s slicedConcetto Spaziale canvases, hammered down at £1.8 million. “When I told my father about it, he was not very pleased.” He had sold the very same painting 40 years earlier for about $2,000. […]
A month after Joseph bought the pricy Fontana, David went to the European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht. “I go in and I see [veteran Fontana dealer Gian Enzo] Sperone and I said, ‘what are you doing with these prices?’ He said, ‘didn’t you see what happened to Fontana last month?’ Since then, his prices have been gradually going up.”
“I completely changed the Fontana market,” Joseph added.
