Franta Belsky
Other names: Francis
Born 1921
Died 2000
Active: 1939 - 1999
Country of birth and death: Czech Republic
Sculptor
Born Brno, Czechoslovakia. Portrait sculptures, architectural sculpture and monuments. Studied at Academy of Fine Arts, Prague; Central School of Art and Design 1939; Royal College of Art, London 1950. War service with Allied Forces 1939-45. Married Margaret Constance Owen, cartoonist and illustrator in 1944. Taught part-time at Gravesend, Maidstone and Colchester Schools of Art in 1950s. President of the Society of Portrait Sculptors 1963-68. Awarded Jean Masson Davidson International Award for portrait sculpture 1965. Belsky is the only sculptor to have modelled four generations of the British Royal family. First royal commission was for bust of Queen Mother in 1962. Awarded the Czech Presidential Medal of Merit by Vaclav Havel in 1999.
Commissions include: Paratroop Memorial in Prague 1947; numerous architectural sculptures for schools in Hertfordshire and Essex; Constellation for Colchester 1953; Lesson for Avebury Estate, Bethnal Green and Rose Bassett School, Wandsworth, London 1958; Triga 1958, Caltex House, Knightsbridge, London; Joy-Ride for Stevenage New Town Centre 1958; Fountain for Shell Building, South Bank, London 1959-61.
Exhibitions include : regular exhibitor at Paris Salon (awarded Silver and Bronze Medals); regular Royal Academy exhibitor from 1943; LCC 1957.
Collections include: National Portrait Gallery, London; Leeds City Art Galleries.
Further reading: G.S. Whittet, ‘Franta Belsky’, in Studio, July 1957, Vol. 154, No. 772.
M. Levy, ‘The Shell Fountain by Franta Belsky’, in Studio, June 1963, Vol. 165, No. 842.
C. Lom, (intro.), Franta Belsky, sculpture, (London: Richter, Prague and A. Zwemmer Ltd., 1992).
Biography from Whiteley (2001) and some additional information from Bryant (2004)
Locations
Address Field Artillery Regiment Czechoslovak Forces in Britain | View on map
1943 (Circa)
Studio located at Studio 8 Bedford Gardens London W8 | View on map
1949 (Circa) - 1952 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1943 - 1970
Exhibited 17 times (3 times up to 1951 in 1943, 1949 and 1950), twenty-four works in all
Institutional and Business Connections
Studied at Royal College of Art (including National Art Training School)
July 1950
Listed as a graduate from the 'School of Sculpture' with 'First Class' in the College's 1950 'Distribution of Diplomas' list.
Sources
Directory of sculptors working and exhibiting in Britain in the 1950s, by Gillian Whiteley
2001
pp. 4-5
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Information contained in Mark Bryant, ‘Belsky , Margaret Constance (1919–1989)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2007 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/57137, accessed 25 July 2010]
Royal College of Art, Distribution of Diplomas on Thursday 13 July 1950
July 1950
p. 1.
Citing this record
'Franta Belsky', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib4_1244821161, accessed 17 May 2021]
