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

Carlos Rey

Carlos Rey

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Person, Sculpture

1 memorial
Simon Stringer
1 memorial
Louis François Roubiliac

Louis François Roubiliac

Sculptor. Born Lyon. Made his reputation in 1749 with the tomb of the Duke of Argyll in Westminster Abbey. Died penniless.

Person, Sculpture

5 memorials
Giuseppe Lund

Giuseppe Lund

Metal sculptor active in 1993.  2012 Lund is looking for commissions to fund a solo row across the Atlantic to raise money to provide fresh-water wells.  Go on, you know you need a decorative gate!...

Person, Sculpture

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Abney Park Cemetery Company

Abney Park Cemetery Company

Set up to run the Abney Park cemetery in Stoke Newington (see Abney House and Park), this company also ran the Chingford Mount cemetery. It went into administration in the 1970s. 

Group, Commerce, Gardens / Agriculture

1 memorial
Putney Pest House Charity

Putney Pest House Charity

Set up in 1862 and still awarding small grants.

Group, Philanthropy, Social Welfare

1 memorial
Doctor Who

Doctor Who

Television programme broadcast by BBC One since 1963. It was originally intended to be an educational programme using time travel as a means to explore scientific ideas and famous moments in histor...

Fiction, Fictional, Seriously Famous, TV & Radio

7 memorials