Milena Milani (1917-2013, Savona, Italy) was an artist, poet, writer, essayist, journalist, and painter. Milani was a multifaceted figure in the Italian art scene, known for her diverse activities ranging from writing to painting, ceramics to art criticism. She was part of Lucio Fontana’s Spatialism movement from its inception, signing all of its Manifestos. From 1946 to 1963, she collaborated with Carlo Cardazzo at the Galleria del Naviglio in Milan. She held over fifty solo exhibitions in various cities, showcasing her “written-paintings” and “written-ceramics,” where she evoked situations, emotions, and feelings through words.
In March 2003, she won the Premio Nuovo Tao in its first edition for her “continuous cultural commitment to the visual arts,” awarded at the Chiostro di Voltorre – Museum of Modern Art (Va). In July 2003, in Savona, at Palazzo Gavotti, the Milena Milani Foundation Museum of Contemporary Art was inaugurated in memory of Carlo Cardazzo, featuring works from the collection of the writer-painter-ceramist, donated to her hometown.
Art critic Germano Beringheli writes:
“Milani has carried out considerable work in painting and ceramics, and it is no coincidence that her works convey emotional sentiments, experienced as intelligent existential testimony. The symbiotic exchange between image and word is entrusted to statements aimed at evocation.”
(Germano Beringheli, Milena Milani: from October 14, 1971, Rome, Galleria Zanini, 1971, catalog)
