Belskie was raised in Glasgow where he was apprenticed to the painter and sculptor, William Petrie. He attended the Glasgow Art School for three years and in 1926 won a traveling scholarship that allowed him to study in Paris, Florence and Rome.
He came to America in 1929 and worked for John Gregory on the panels for the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington D. C. He was then assistant to Malvina Hoffman, and to Robert Baillie. In 1939, he collaborated with Dr. Robert Dickinson of the New York Academy of Medicine on the creation of threeÄdimensional models for medical study, an effort which gained him some fame in the medical community. His interest in the field was further evidenced by his relief, The Anatomist, of 1951, and by his lifeÄsize bronze statue, The Surgeon, unveiled in Somerville, New Jersey, in 1962. His aesthetic was also expressed in religious work, such as the Christ Child, and allegorical sculpture, such as The Moonbeam, shown in Academy annual exhibitions of 1935 and 1937, respectively, and now in the collection of Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina. Belski was also an adept medalist, and was honored for his work in this field by the National Sculpture Society and by the American Numismatic Society. He was a member of the Academy School faculty for two seasons beginning in 1964.
