This September, Bonhams turns the spotlight onto a man more often found behind the press than in front of it. Jean Milant, master printmaker and founder of Cirrus Editions, shaped the visual language of Los Angeles conceptual art. From September 12–23, The Personal Collection of Jean Milant goes online at Bonhams, offering more than 100 works by the artists who trusted him to push ink, paper, and process beyond their limits.
A Printer Who Said Yes
Collections tell us about taste; Milant’s tells us about risk. When Ed Ruscha proposed printing the Hollywood sign in grape jam, apricot jam, and diet soda, Milant didn’t flinch. “Rather than rejecting the absurdity, he engineered a way to make it work,” explains Victoria Zaks, Specialist and Head of Sale at Bonhams. The resulting Fruit-Metrecal Hollywood (1971) is as sticky in its making as it is iconic—proof that Milant didn’t just print art, he collaborated on ideas.
The Collaborator’s Eye
Milant left Tamarind in 1970 to start Cirrus, deliberately breaking away from its purist devotion to lithography. He saw that artists like John Baldessari were investigating fragmentation, photography, and incompleteness—and they needed a shop willing to experiment. The Fallen Easel, a nine-part set of lithography and screenprint, embodies that spirit. “Milant recognized the importance of aligning with Baldessari’s larger practice,” Zaks notes. “He prioritized the facilities to make it possible.” Those early collaborations put Los Angeles on the printmaking map, challenging the East Coast’s dominance.
Building Los Angeles Into a Printmaking Hub
Unlike Gemini or Tamarind, Milant staked his reputation on promoting younger, local artists. Vija Celmins, Bruce Nauman, John Baldessari—their earliest prints were coaxed out of Cirrus. Decades later, Mark Bradford made his first prints there in 2003, and Jonas Wood followed in 2009, inspired by Cirrus legends. “Without Milant’s vision,” Zaks says, “Los Angeles wouldn’t be the printmaking hub that it is today.” He wasn’t just a printer; he was a mentor, opening his press to new voices and giving them tools to translate raw ideas into enduring form.
Proofs of a Life’s Work
Milant kept a proof from each edition, a kind of private archive, and it is these that anchor the Bonhams sale. Among the highlights:
- Ruscha’s Waves of Advancing Technology (1983), making its auction debut with a $300,000–400,000 estimate.
- Baldessari’s Red Figure (Striding) and Door and Stairs (1988), a mixed-media standout ($70,000–90,000).
- Untitled (Desert) (1971) by Vija Celmins ($15,000–20,000).
- Jonas Wood’s Speaking Still Life (2019) ($15,000–20,000).
- Early gems by Guy de Cointet, Judy Chicago, and Ed Moses.
As the gavel approaches, Bonhams frames this auction to more of a special experience, where one can have a chance to own fragments of the city’s creative DNA. “Jean Milant constantly leveled up to realize boundless visions,” Zaks says. The works read like a diary of collaborations that shifted the center of gravity west, making Los Angeles a city where ink and imagination ran wild.
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