Jiri Borsky was born in 1945 in Dobrany, near Pilsen, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). He studied architecture in Prague and immigrated to England in 1969 following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. In the UK, he enrolled in fine art courses, eventually fully dedicating himself to figurative painting.
Painter Jiri Borsky was born in 1945 in Dobrany, near Pilsen, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). Brought up in rural surroundings, he relocated to Prague with his parents at the age of 15, remaining there for the next eight years. In the Czech capital he encountered the medieval art of his homeland, specifically, the 14th-century Gothic panel paintings housed in the National Gallery, which would leave a lasting mark on his visual imagination. In 1964, he began studying architecture at Prague University, a decision shaped in part by his father’s influence and as a means of deferring conscription. During these early years, Borsky also began exhibiting his work, with his debut solo exhibition taking place in 1966 at Malostranská Beseda. After visiting England in both 1967 and 1968, he made the decision to relocate there permanently following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, finally immigrating in 1969.
Borsky initially found employment as a draughtsman with Wedgwood potteries in Stoke-on-Trent and later worked in architectural drafting in Newcastle-under-Lyme. After marrying Patricia Garner in 1972, he became a British citizen in 1975 and began formal art training as a mature student at North Staffordshire Polytechnic (now Staffordshire University). There he studied under Arthur Berry, whose influence reinforced his commitment to figurative painting. He completed his BA (Hons) in Fine Art in 1979, with William Gear acting as his external assessor. From then onwards, Borsky dedicated himself to painting professionally. Though he taught intermittently at Keele University to supplement his income, he increasingly focused on life in the studio.
His paintings are often autobiographical, with wide-ranging subjects but often returning to certain repeated motifs: figures locked in embrace, musicians lost in performance, or scenes that hint at elusive stories. Music, particularly jazz, which he listened to alongside folk and classical, was a central influence on both the mood and rhythm of his compositions. Working primarily in acrylics, he developed a method of layering textures into the painted surface, producing works that are as much about tactile experience, as they are about visual resonance. Borsky’s approach to art extended beyond the canvas. He frequently crafted or modified his own frames, favouring weathered or repurposed materials he found while walking or gardening. This handcrafted aspect was not incidental; it reflected his view of the painting as a complete and physical object, shaped by the artist from edge to edge. Gardening, particularly organic, was a long-standing personal interest, one that echoed his attention to detail and process in his studio work. His works also show influences from a range of European modernist artists, including Paul Klee, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Jean Dubuffet and Otto Dix.
Borsky has exhibited widely across the UK and abroad. In the UK he has shown at Brampton Museum in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Keele University. In 2012 and 2017 he had successful exhibitions of his acrylics at the Barewall Gallery, Burslem. Jiri Borsky lives and works in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. His works are held in UK public collections, including Keele University, Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Salford Museum and Art Gallery, Edinburgh and Lothian Health Foundation, and the Ben Uri Collection.
Jiri Borsky in the Ben Uri collection
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Jiri Borsky]
Publications related to [Jiri Borsky] in the Ben Uri Library