Fernando Millan was undoubtedly a public man. He was a member of the Comissão do 4º Centenário de São Paulo and (at the time of this interview) was on the board of the MASP (Museu de Arte de São Paulo). He was involved in political criticism and cultural promotion at public and private institutions. He began his career as an antiquarian, which sparked his interest in research and inspired him to become an art dealer. His gallery specialized in works from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. It did not start showing paintings until 1970. Millan encourages the idea of donating works of art to museums, and loudly criticizes the power of the press in the art market. During the interview he calls for a return to the concept of “representation by country” that is used mainly at the Bienal de São Paulo, and says that the special exhibition halls built for the event should be kept and used for teaching purposes. Lisette Lagnado, Millan’s interviewer, claims that he is still exhaling “dreams and utopias.” His son, André Millan, took over the running of the gallery that he founded and that bears his name.
The art critic and curator Lisette Lagnado (b. 1961) is also a teacher. She began her career in the 1980s and was soon steeped in recent contemporary art. She played an important role in the so-called Projeto Leonilson, which was created shortly after the artist’s death in 1994, originally to produce a Catalogue raisonné of his work designed to expose it to a wider audience. Among other activities, Lagnado is known for her curatorial work at the XXVII Bienal Internacional de São Paulo (2006).
[As complementary reading, see the following articles by Lagnado in the ICAA digital archive: “La instauración, entre la instalación y la performance” (doc. no. 1111435); “A bienal desmontada” (doc. no. 1111321); and “Desejo de servir = Serving desire” (doc. no. 1111262). See also her interviews with Sheila Leirner (doc. no. 1111294); Thomas Cohn (doc. no. 1111322); and José Leonilson (doc. no. 1110768)].
