Horses in Art - An Equine Vision Magazine

Franklin B. Voss - American Sporting Artist

by Sarah Crampton

The old adage “paint what you know” seems to fit American sporting artist Franklin Brooke Voss (1880-1953) more than most. He lived a life immersed in the world of equestrian pursuits. Voss had the good fortune of being born into a family of horsemen, foxhunted from an early age and rode in flat races and steeplechases. He studied art in the classical tradition for seven years at the Art Students’ League of New York.

Indigo
Oil by Franklin B. Voss.
The recording of history through portraiture extends into the world of horses, even today, particularly in the world of horse racing. During Franklin’s day, notably after World War I, thoroughbred racing was flourishing.

The Voss family connections included America’s prominent families in the world of thoroughbred racing at the time including the Vanderbilts and Whitneys. Painting on site at the estates of family friends, he created some of the most important racehorse paintings from life, never from photographs. His portraits of famous racehorses include Man O’War, Citation, Seabiscuit, Whirlaway, Gallant Fox and many others. He painted over 500 commissioned portraits from 1920-1950 primarily of racehorses and hunt horses. Many of these paintings are located at the National Museum of Racing in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Alfred J. Munnings (1878-1959), the better known English sporting art painter, was a contemporary of Voss and their work has often been compared. Interestingly, Franklin Voss traveled to England, foxhunted there, painted private commissions, and met Munnings.

F. Turner Reuter, Jr. of Red Fox Fine Art wrote, “Astute in anatomy of both horse and human, Voss certainly is the finest of the American painters of our equine genre. He remains in a league of his own, as good as Munnings yet of a unique personal style.”

The works of Franklin Voss were exhibited at the Red Fox Fine Art in 1993 and at the Museum of Hounds and Hunting in Leesburg, Virginia in 1999. Eclipse Press has just published the first book about Voss titled, The Sporting Art of Franklin B. Voss. It is written by Peter Winants, who knew Voss and his family, and the book contains fifty reproductions of his paintings including many famous racehorses.

Franklin B. Voss rode to hounds his whole life, literally up until his death at age 72. His death is the dream of every horseman — to die in the middle of a ride. He died of a heart attack during a foxhunt while overlooking one of his favorite views of familiar countryside. His horse paintings capture his admiration for the horse and appreciation for the world in which he lived.

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