Eli Bornstein

Eli Bornstein

Eli Bornstein, artist, educator (b at Milwaukee, Wis 28 Dec 1922). He was educated at the University of Wisconsin and in 1950 began teaching at University of Saskatchewan, becoming head of the art department in 1963. His works of the 1950s started from small, low-form, white reliefs and progressed towards larger, more complex works, with planes projecting further into space and utilizing primary colours.

In 1954 he was introduced to the works of Charles Biederman, an experience which reaffirmed his direction and his major influences - Claude Monet/Paul Cézanne and cubism/constructivism. In 1957, when in Europe, Bornstein met Jean Gorin, Joost Baljeu, Anthony Hill, Kenneth and Mary Martin, Victor Pasmore and Georges Vantongerloo and returned to Saskatoon committed to the exploration of form-colour-structure relationships through 3-dimensional works.

He began to work with a coloured ground plane and an expanded colour range in the 1960s. In 1966 he made his first double-plane reliefs and then went on to explore multiplane reliefs. Bornstein's structurist works combine elements of both painting and sculpture to develop and extend the landscape tradition. A Canadian citizen since 1972, he founded and edited The Structurist (1960), an international art publication.