Background
Bornstein, Eli was born on December 28, 1922 in Milwaukee. Dual citizen, United States and Canada.
Bornstein, Eli was born on December 28, 1922 in Milwaukee. Dual citizen, United States and Canada.
He studied at the Chicago Art Institute for a short period in 1943, then went to the Milwaukee State Teachers" College, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1945. During his summer breaks he studied in Paris, France at the Académie de Montmartre of Fernand Léger in 1951 and at the Académie Julian in 1952. He also studied at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and obtained an Master of Science in 1954.
He is known for his three-dimensional reliefs. From 1943 to 1947 he was a teacher at the Milwaukee Art Institute. In 1949 Bornstein taught design at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
In 1950 Bornstein became head of the newly established Department of Fine Arts at the University of Saskatchewan.
Bornstein resigned from his position as head of the Fine Arts department in 1971. Bornstein became a Canadian citizen in 1972.
He continued to teach art at the University of Saskatchewan until 1990, when he retired. Bornstein"s early drawings, paintings, prints and sculptures used abstract and cubist techniques to depict nature.
He began to make three-dimensional "structurist" reliefs during a sabbatical in Italy and the Netherlands in 1957.
In Europe he met and was influenced by artists such as Jean Gorin, Joost Baljeu, Anthony Hill, Kenneth Martin, Mary Martin, Victor Pasmore and Georges Vantongerloo. In 1960 he founded The Structurist, a journal that appears annually or biannually with each edition devoted to a particular theme. The journal was published by the University of Saskatchewan until 2010.
As of 2014 he was still actively working.
Bornstein is one of the most influential senior artists in the Canadian Prairies region. Bornstein has exhibited in solo and group shows in Canada, the United States and Europe.
Some of Bornstein"s major work are held in the Winnipeg International Air Terminal (1962), Wascana Centre Authority building in Regina (1982) and Canadian Light Source building in Saskatoon (2004). His Hexaplane Structurist Construction Number.
1 was made for Jacobs University Bremen in Germany, and his Hexaplane Structurist Construction Number.
2 for the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. Collections that hold his work include:
Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa)
National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa)
Saskatchewan Arts Board (Regina)
Walker Art Center (Minneapolis)
Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, (Florida)
Mendel Art Gallery (Saskatoon)
Klein (Los Angeles).
M. Christina Bornstein. Children: Sarah, Thea.