Nikos Bel-Jon

He was born Nikolaos Baloyannis (Νικόλαος Μπαλογιάννης) in the village of Valtesiniko (now part of the municipality of Gortynia), Arcadia.

[1] After receiving his master's from the Athens School of Fine Arts in Athens in 1936, Bel-Jon continued his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts and the École du Louvre in Paris on a Greek government scholarship in 1938.

Bel-Jon served in the Greek army during the Greco-Italian War and was hospitalised for shrapnel in his leg, an injury that plagued him for the rest of his life.

[1] That same year, he emigrated to the United States and took up residence in Los Angeles, where he met his wife, Troy Kendall, also an artist.

Moving to San Francisco, in 1950 Bel-Jon opened a studio on Maiden Lane.