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Gary Nader is an international art collector based in Miami, Florida. Nader focuses on Latin American Art and possesses the largest private Fernando Botero collection in the world. Nader has promoted Latin American artists and has collected their works at the Latin American Art Museum (LAAM) in Miami.[1][2][3]
Gary Nader was born in the Dominican Republic of Lebanese parents. Nader became fascinated by art at a young age because his parents and his Uncle George owned art galleries. At the age of twelve, he purchased his first work of art, a nude portrait by the Dominican artist Juan Plutarco Andujar.[4] His professional art career began around the age of eighteen when he started his first art gallery in Santo Domingo.[5] Gary Nader's artistic development began with biographies of the great masters, and continued on from there with over a million articles and more than five hundred books about art.[5]
In 1981, Gary Nader became the Director of the Nader Gallery of Santo Domingo. By 1985, Gary had recognized the potential of Miami, Florida as a new international art destination, moved to Miami, and set up an art gallery featuring Latin American Art. His first purchase was a collection of drawings by Mexican artist Jose Luis Cuevas. Seven years later, in 1992, Gary Nader Fine Art opened in Coral Gables, Florida at 3306 Ponce de Leon Blvd with a 2,500 square foot exhibition area with the goal of showcasing masters and upcoming artists alike.[1][6] Nader's rapidly expanding personal collection, and the simultaneous expansion of the art scene in Miami,[7] required a new exhibition location. In 2006, Nader purchased his current gallery location, located in the Miami art district, Wynwood. Gary Nader Fine Art's massive 55,000 square feet of exhibition space houses the Exhibition Gallery, the Sculpture Park, and the Nader Museum.[1][8]
By 1999, Gary Nader Fine Art had held six successful live auctions featuring Latin American Art, with over $10 million in sales, culminating in gallery's first online Latin American Art auction reaching a world-wide audience in November 1999.[9] After a decade of organizing annual art auctions at the Miami Intercontinental Hotel, as well as publishing the accompanying auction color catalogs, Nader announced the opening of a Miami-based auction house, enabling Miami to host "some of the world's greatest collectors." The first auction was set to be held in Oct of 2011, and immediately followed by another auction during Art Basel in November 2011.[8]
In May of 1993, while Nader and his wife were in Chicago for an event, 11 paintings were stolen from the new art gallery, 9 of which were well-known works by the Cuban artist Wifredo Lam. The lost collection was valued at over $1 million. The other stolen works were by another Cuban artist, Rafael Soriano, and Peruvian artist, Fernando de Sziszlo. The police checked the property and the security alarm company declared it a false alarm. When the Naders returned a few days later they discovered the steel back door and deadbolt locks badly damaged and rendered useless and the missing collection. [10]
In 2016, Nader won a suit with Miami Dade College, resulting in a state appeals court ordering Miami Dade to pay Nader's legal fees. The suit concerned a development bid submitted by Nader to Miami Dade College to repurpose a college parking lot with a cultural center and Latin American art museum. [11]
Carol Damian, Ph.D., a Professor of Art History at Florida International University and a "...strong fixture in Miami's arts community, and a nationally recognized art historian" noted that, "Nader has established a number of significant art projects and publications....His books and full-color catalogues with scholarly essays have become some of the most important resources on the artists featured in his gallery exhibitions. These exhibitions have included such masters as Wifredo Lam, Matta, Fernando Botero, Mario Carreño, Julio Larraz, Agustin Cardenas, Francisco Toledo, Armando Morales and the accompanying books and extensive catalogues now represent significant scholarship on their work."[12]
In April of 2013, Haute Living Magazine included Nader on the "Haute 100 Miami," a list of the most powerful people in Miami, and noted that Nader is "Regarded as one of the most successful gallery owners in the United States and Latin America, Nader has played an integral role in the formation of Miami's growing presence in the art world....As the largest fine art gallery in South Florida and the biggest gallery in the world, the space is home to a $500 million art collection."[13]
Nader has also featured newer non-Latin American artists. Mikhail Baryshnikov's first photography exhibit took place at the Gary Nader Arts Center in Miami on February 24, 2012.[14]
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