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".

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

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...

Read More

Mountbatten statue

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

Read More

Tattersall's auction yard

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

Read More

Other Subjects

Mary Thornycroft

Mary Thornycroft

Sculptor. Born Norfolk but in 1823 her family moved to London, 56 Albany Street. Her father, John Francis, was a sculptor and she worked with him as assistant and pupil in Albany Street. In 1840 sh...

Person, Sculpture

2 memorials
Francis William Doyle-Jones
2 memorials
Bernard Meadows

Bernard Meadows

Sculptor.  Born Norwich.  Professor of sculpture at the Royal College of Art, 1960–80.  Died at the Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead.  Tate holds some of his work but we are not aware of any other pu...

Person, Sculpture

1 memorial
Irena Sedlecka

Irena Sedlecka

Born Czechoslovakia. Married the sculptor Franta Belsky in 1996.

Person, Sculpture, Czechoslovakia

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Catholic Apostolic Church

Catholic Apostolic Church

The Amwell Society say ". . . an eccentric sect which petered out in the 20th century because its priesthood depended on heredity. What was planned as its cathedral is now the University of Londo...

Group, Religion

1 memorial