Genevieve McMillan
Genevieve Lalanne McMillan was born in 1922 in Orthez, France. She earned a baccalaureate degree in English from the University of Bordeaux, and was one of the first women to graduate from the Ecole des Sciences Polytechnique, the leading French school for public administration.
In 1944, after the Paris liberation, she met Robert McMillan, an American officer and architect by training. McMillan introduced her to Madeleine Rousseau, a collector of African and Oceanic Art who subsequently became her mentor and sparked her own interest in collecting and learning about diverse cultures. Rousseau’s apartment was a true salon, where McMillan met African students from the French colonies, many of whom were to become leaders in their countries. By 1946, she had earned her degree from “Sciences Po”, married Robert MacMillan and left for the United States.
In 1950, McMillan divorced and the same year opened Henri IV, a restaurant with a pastry shop and nightclub. The first French restaurant in Boston, Henri IV was frequented by many writers and artists, including such notables as William Faulkner, Thornton Wilder, and Juan Miro. McMillan would close the restaurant during the summers to travel, and through her travels began to amass a sizeable and remarkable collection. Her collection was featured in Material Journeys, a temporary exhibit of part of her collection at the Museum of Fine Arts Last year.
McMillan was a brilliant businesswoman and acquired properties around Harvard Square, which helped her to build her collection and support many causes, from the arts to civil rights, to various political causes. She was a fervent believer in individual rights and equal justice, and an avid enthusiast for the arts, particularly film. Amongst her causes, she funded the visiting African filmmaker series at the Harvard Film Archive, the MIT Chair for Third World Women’s Studies, scholarships for minority students to Harvard Medical School, a chair in honor of her friend Reba Stewart at the Maryland Institute College of Art, a traveling scholarship for printmaking students at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and an African scholars lecture series at the DuBois Center at Harvard University.
Friends of FDF Article:
The Geneviève McMillan-Reba Stewart Foundation: Leaving a Long-Lasting Legacy
Culture Now: Quiet Cornerston