Milman was born into a large
Jewish family in
Kishinev, where he studied at a commercial school. In the early 1900s, the family moved to
Moscow, where Milman entered the
Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. From 1904 he attended the art studio of
Ilya Mashkov, who soon became his good friend. In the same studio the young artist became friends with
Robert Falk. From 1911, he was a member of the review board of the
Jack of Diamonds art group. His works were displayed at its group expositions in 1912–1914. In October 1917, Milman withdrew from the Jack of Diamonds group and joined the
Mir Iskusstva society, along with Falk,
Aristarkh Lentulov and others. In 1912–1917, Milman taught in Mashkov's private studio of painting and drawing. The artist became ill with tuberculosis and took treatment in the
Crimea annually from 1914. In 1918, Milman took part in organizing the Fine Arts Department of
Narkompros. The same year he moved to
Kiev, where
P. F. Chelishchev and S. M. Yutkevich were among his art students. Later he lived in Sudak in the
Crimea. At the same time, he contracted
sleeping sickness. His only personal exhibition took place in Feodosiya in 1920. From 1921, the artist lived in
Paris, where his paintings were repeatedly exhibited for several years (until 1924); however, he stopped painting in 1922. In 1920–1922, the Canadian artist
Edwin Holgate studied with Milman. The artist spent the last eight years of his life bedridden and lost the ability to speak. He was buried in the
Montparnasse Cemetery. == Gallery ==