Francis Carco had always been involved with painters. In his youth he had befriended Vlaminck, Derain, Van Dongen, Utrillo, Pascin and numerous masters. He owned many of their early works, and soon bought paintings from Nonda. Carco would also help him show his paintings to the large galleries by introduction, and a letter, hailing the talent of the young painter would insure his induction to the School of Paris and a contract with the coveted Galerie Charpentier whose painters exhibited yearly in the salons at the Grand Palais as well as the Gallery on Rue Faubourg St. Honoré. (now Sotheby's, Paris). In 1954, Francis Carco had already written, “The ardor, the force contained in this young Greek painter signals a rare temperament…” And Galanis writes, “I viewed the paintings of Mr. Nonda which show a true talent and express a grand pictorial temperament…” This praise from two of the most respected artistic figures in Paris at the time resulted in his first one-man show in Paris in 1956 at the Gallerie Allard in the Rue des Capucines. J.P. Crespelle, reviewing the show in the France-Soir paper comments, “(Nonda) has shown himself to be among the most interesting young artists to emerge in recent years…this son of an Athenian tailor has been revealed as one of the hopes for new painting…”