Belskie, Abraham

Person

Belskie, Abraham

• Belskie, Abram

1907-1988

Abraham Belskie was born in London and grew up in Glasgow. He first enrolled at The Glasgow School of Art for the 1922-3 session, when he attended evening classes in the modelling and sculpture section. He listed his occupation as that of “Sculptor's Apprentice". At the time, he was one of 83 students studying sculpture throughout the school.

The following year Belskie became a day pupil at the school. It is likely that he was awarded his Diploma in 1926, as in 1927 he had his Diploma endorsed after the successful completion of post-diploma study. He was one of only two sculpture students to receive this endorsement in 1927.

His sculpture "The Flood" was exhibited at the Glasgow Institute (now the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts) in 1925. The following year, Belskie received a one third share of the John Keppie Scholarship. This award, worth £100, was given in alternate years to sculpture and architecture students. However, in 1927, Belskie was awarded it again, this time as the sole beneficiary.

In 1929 he emigrated to New York to work for the British sculptor John Gregory. In 1938 Belskie was introduced to physician Robert Latou Dickinson and subsequently applied his skills to create medical models, some of which were exhibited at the World's Fair of 1939. This was known as the Dickinson-Belskie Birth Series. In 1942, he created two sculptures, Norma and Normman, based on data collected by Dickinson, intended to represent the statistical ideal female and male figure. After Dickinson's death in 1950, Belskie instead created medallions (occasionally medicine-related).

• GSA Registers
• RGIFA records
• Wikipedia