Oral history interview with Jean Milant
name: label: Interviewee
content: Milant, Jean, 1943-
label: Interviewer
content: Drohojowska-Philp, Hunter
label: Names
content: Cirrus Editions
label: Names
content: Cirrus Gallery
label: Names
content: Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art
label: Names
content: Los Angeles Visual Arts (Organization)
label: Names
content: Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, Calif.)
label: Names
content: Tamarind Institute
label: Names
content: University of New Mexico -- Student
label: Names
content: University of Wisconsin
label: Names
content: Antreasian, Garo Z., 1922-2018
label: Names
content: Auder, Michel
label: Names
content: Baldessari, John, 1931-
label: Names
content: Blum, Irving, 1930-
label: Names
content: Burden, Chris, 1946-
label: Names
content: Card, Greg S., 1945-
label: Names
content: Carson, Karen, 1943-
label: Names
content: Cointet, Guy de, 1934-1983
label: Names
content: Egelston, Robert
label: Names
content: Francis, Sam, 1923-1994
label: Names
content: Gehry, Frank O., 1929-
label: Names
content: Goodman, Marian
label: Names
content: Harrison, Newton, 1932-
label: Names
content: Hill, Charles Christopher
label: Names
content: Inch, Terry
label: Names
content: Irwin, Robert, 1928-
label: Names
content: Kanemitsu, Matsumi
label: Names
content: Kauffman, Craig, 1932-2010
label: Names
content: Leiber, Steven
label: Names
content: Marron, Donald B.
label: Names
content: Mizuno, Riko
label: Names
content: Moses, Ed, 1926-
label: Names
content: Nauman, Bruce, 1941-
label: Names
content: Overby, Robert, 1935-1993
label: Names
content: Price, Kenneth, 1935-2012
label: Names
content: Rivière, Alain, 1958-
label: Names
content: Rosen, Gerry
label: Names
content: Ruscha, Edward
label: Names
content: Sturman, Eugene
label: Names
content: Trowbridge, David, 1945-
label: Names
content: Tyler, Kenneth E.
label: Names
content: Viva, 1938-
label: Names
content: Wayne, June, 1918-2011
label: Names
content: Wood, Jonas, 1977-
label: Names
content: de Beauvau-Craon, Minnie
place: label: Place
content: Europe -- description and travel
label: Place
content: France -- description and travel
label: Place
content: New York (N.Y.) -- Description and Travel
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art dealers -- California -- Los Angeles
label: Occupation
content: Publishers -- California -- Los Angeles
label: Topic
content: Art -- Study and teaching
label: Topic
content: Prints -- Technique
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Milant, Jean, 1943-
label: Interviewer
content: Drohojowska-Philp, Hunter
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Jean Robert Milant (1943- ) is an art dealer and publisher in Los Angeles, California. Hunter Drohojowska-Philp is an art critic and writer from Beverly Hills, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 4 Items (Sound recording: 4 sound files (3 hr., 7 min.), digital, wav)
label: Extent
content: 102 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2015 July 20
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.milant15
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Jean Milant, conducted 2015 July 20, by Hunter Drohojowska-Philp, for the Archives of American Art at Milant's home in Los Angeles, California.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Jean Milant discusses growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and his French and German heritage; his introduction to art instruction in high school and further studies at the University of Wisconsin; his trips to Europe and New York City as an undergraduate art student; his time as a graduate student at the University of New Mexico, and his work at the Tamarind Institute printmaking program and his introduction to Los Angeles; his work at Tamarind with Ed Ruscha, Sam Francis, Ed Moses, and Ken Price, among others; the beginnings of Cirrus Gallery and Cirrus Editions and his search for backers for the two endeavors; his partnership with Terry Inch as a backer for Cirrus. Mr. Milant also describes the decision to move his gallery and printmaking shop to downtown Los Angeles in 1979; the support of Robert Egelston and the collector Donald Marron and other collectors who first subscribed to his print editions; his experiences in France with Minnie de Beauvau-Craon; the gallery and museum scene in Los Angeles in the early '70s and '80s; his efforts to promote Los Angeles as a vibrant center of art, including trips to Europe in the early '70s to show his artists; the creation of Ed Ruscha's prints using food; working with Bruce Nauman and John Baldessari to create prints; the creation of the Los Angeles Visual Arts group of L.A. art dealers; his involvement with the creation of the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art in 1974; his work with the artist Guy de Cointet and Mr. Cointet's early performances at Cirrus Gallery; the opening of MOCA in 1984; his desire to create a think-tank institute to help create a viable future for art. Mr. Milant also recalls Garo Antreasian, Newton Harrison, June Wayne, Frank Gehry, Robert Irwin, Eugene Sturman, Matsumi Kanemitsu, Ken Tyler, Riko Mizuno, Irving Blum, Gerry Rosen, Robert Overby, David Trowbridge as well as Chris Burden, Greg Card, Karen Carson, Craig Kauffman, Marian Goodman, Alain Rivière, Charles Christopher Hill, Steven Leiber, Viva, Michel Auder, and Jonas Wood, among others.