Posts tagged: Cecile Elstein

Artist: Cecile Elstein (b. 1938)

Title: The Sisyphus Suite

Year: 1979-80

Medium: Series of eight screenprints

Dimensions: Various

Acquisition info:

Cecile Elstein (b. 1938, Cape Town, South Africa) is a printmaker, sculptor, and environmental artist based in Didsbury, South Manchester. In the 1980s, Elstein worked at the Manchester Print Workshop with the Master Printer Kip Gresham. The Workshop was based at the University of Salford until 1985. The Sisyphus Suite joins two works from Elstein already in the Collection made during this time, Small Offering (1980) and A Letter from Mrs Gould (1981).

The Sisyphus Suite was generously gifted to the University of Salford Art Collection from Cecile Elstein Studio Ltd in 2023.

Artist: Cecile Elstein, (1938 – )

Title: Small Offering

Year: 1980

Medium: Print

Dimensions: H: 60.5cm W: 48.5cm

Accession Number: 287

Artist: Cecile Elstein (1938-)

Title: A Letter from Mrs Gould

Year: 1981

Medium: Screenprint

Dimensions: H: 97cm W: 77cm

Accession Number: 286

Acquisition info:

Cecile Elstein was a member of the Manchester Print Workshop, which opperated out of the University of Salford from the late 1970s until the mid 1980s.

A Letter from Mrs Gould was produced in response to challenging socioeconomic conditions in Manchester and across the UK in the early 1980s. In 1981, Elstein received an unsolicited note signed by an S.Gould, reading:

“Woman needs work urgently – cleaning & domestic work – housekeeping – gardening – handywoman – will do work of any description – hours to suit you – at a rate you can afford….”

Using found papers and materials, Elstein attempted to piece together the circumstances of Gould’s precarious situation: The twenty screen-printed layers include newspaper clippings from the time, netting from a bag of oranges (with a price tag of 50p – showing rising food prices) as well as the envelope in which the letter was received. Elstein intended the final image as a reminder of the dignity, grace and tenacity of “all women involved in real communication”. Both the letter and print make up the collection object.

Read more here.