Lot 77: AR Franta Belsky (Czech, 1921-2000) John Piper 33cm (13in). (high, excluding base)

Franta Belsky (Czech, 1921-2000)
John Piper signed and dated 'F Belsky/'87' (on side of neck)bronze33cm (13in). (high, excluding base)Conceived in 1987 Another cast of the present work is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

ProvenanceProfessor Patrick Horsbrugh Esq.ExhibitedLondon, Embassy of the Czechoslovak Republic, Czech and Slovak Sculptors in Great Britain, 1992, cat.no.8 (another cast, resin version)LiteratureChristopher Lom (intro.), Franta Belsky - Sculpture, Richter, Prague and A. Zwemmer Ltd, London, 1992, ill. b&w n.p. (another cast, plaster version)Patrick Horsbrugh (1920-2014) was an eminent British Professor of Architecture who, having studied in both Britain and the United States, began a career in teaching. Horsbrugh taught at Harvard University, in North Carolina, Illinois and Nebraska also holding the title of professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame until his death in 2014.Having found his passion for architecture interrupted by service during World War II, Horsbrugh started working voluntarily in a planning office in Middlesbrough on the Middlesbrough Survey and Plan, under the architect Max Lock, and it was during this time that he became close friends with John Piper. He recalled: 'It was a wonderful service for me and through that I met John Piper, the artist of some of these paintings. The finest painter in Europe at that time, John and I became friends until he died, his bronze that I had cast—a portrait—just before his death'.