Person    | Male  Born 6/4/1921  Died 5/7/2000

Franta Belsky

Categories: Sculpture

Countries: Czechoslovakia

Born Czechoslovakia as Frantisek Belsky. Fled 3 times, twice to escape the Nazis and then again from the Communists. Ornamental Passions we learn that all Belsky's sculptures contain an empty Guinness bottle, the day's newspaper, a sixpence and a note stating that he was the artist.

Other works in London: the 1957 Shell fountain in front of the Shell Building on the South Bank and The Lesson in Bethnal Green.

From Radio Prague International: "He served in the Battle of France, was twice mentioned in the dispatches during the war and saw Winston Churchill at an inspection after the evacuation at Dunkirk. .. After the war, Bělský returned to Czechoslovakia and studied sculpting. However, his studies were disrupted when Bělský escaped Czechoslovakia a second time after the Communist coup d’etat in 1948, but he soon found himself learning again, this time at the Royal College of Art in London. The artist’s first major commission came at the Festival of Britain in 1951. ... Bělský became the official sculptor of the royal family, creating the busts of Queen Elizabeth II, as well as of the princes Philip, William, Andrew and the queen mother."

2023: English Radio CZ has a very informative interview with Bohumil Vostal, the author of a book about Belsky "He Portraited the Queen of England".

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This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Franta Belsky

Creations i

Cunningham bust

Unveiled by Prince Philip in 1967. Inside the bust there is a ½ pint Guinness...

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Mountbatten statue

9 foot 5 inches, bronze on a plinth at the centre of a low stepped platform. ...

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Tattersall's auction yard

This sculpture 'Triga' recalls the racehorses that were bought and sold on th...

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Other Subjects

Ernest George Gillick

Ernest George Gillick

Sculptor. Born Bradford and studied at Nottingham School of Art where he met his wife Mary, who also studied sculpture there.  Other work in London includes: An allegorical group on the National W...

Person, Sculpture

2 memorials
Ivor Roberts-Jones
3 memorials
Michael Bond (sculptor)

Michael Bond (sculptor)

We can't identify this sculptor.  

Person, Sculpture

3 memorials
John Bacon the Elder

John Bacon the Elder

Awarded the first gold medal for sculpture by the Royal Academy in 1769. Other works: Samuel Johnson (1796) in St Paul's Cathedral. Ornamental Passions writes : "John Bacon was the son of a clothwo...

Person, Sculpture

5 memorials
Carl Payne
1 memorial

Previously viewed

Christchurch - Greyfriars Church

Christchurch - Greyfriars Church

An information board at the site reads: "Christchurch Greyfriars churchyard covers the site of the church of the Franciscan monastery which stood here from about 1228. The original church was demol...

Building, Religion

3 memorials
Royal Northern Hospital

Royal Northern Hospital

Founded in 1856 by Dr. Sherard Freeman Statham (dismissed from University College Hospital for smacking a patient's bottom) at 11 York Road (later York Way), and expanded into numbers 9 and 10.  18...

Building, Medicine

10 memorials