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

Edouard Lantéri

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1 memorial
Carlos Rey

Carlos Rey

Wikipedia gives this name for one of the Camp Griffiss memorials but we are only guessing it's the SHAEF memorial.

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Emily Young

Emily Young

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1 memorial
Raphael Maklouf

Raphael Maklouf

Born in Jerusalem, to a Jewish family who emigrated to the UK after WW2. His designs have been used for coins in the UK and other countries.

Person, Sculpture, Israel/Palestine

1 memorial
William Bateman Fagan

William Bateman Fagan

Born Bermondsey. Andrew Behan's researches have found that when he was baptised on 7 April 1872 at St Mary Newington Church, Lambeth his date of birth was recorded as 3 September 1860. Lots of inte...

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Previously viewed

Abney Park Cemetery Company

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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
Westminster City Council

Westminster City Council

The ancient parish of St Margaret's was divided into St Margaret's and St John's in 1727 but it was still run as a single vestry. In 1855 the two parishes were reformed into the Westminster Distric...

Group, Politics & Administration

183 memorials