Biographical Information

Franklin B. Voss
American 1880-1953

Voss is regarded as one of the greatest American equine artists of the twentieth century. A consummate sportsman, Voss was equally at home riding to hounds as he was behind the easel. His oil paintings of the hunt field, champion racehorses, and prized hounds made him the artist of choice among America’s sporting elite.

Voss was born in New York State and grew up riding to hounds, competing in steeplechase races and playing polo. As a teenager, Voss displayed artistic talent and an affinity for equine subjects. He received his early training at the Art Students League in New York City. His mentor there was George Bridgman, a legendary instructor who wrote Constructive Anatomy and The Human Machine. After a thorough education that included a stint in Paris, Voss chose to combine his lifelong avocation of horse with his vocation in art.

He completed at least 500 commissioned works of art during his 40-year career, from portraits of famous racehorses, such as Man o’War, Gallant Fox, Sir Barton, Whirlaway and Seabiscuit, to favorite polo ponies and hunters and beloved dogs. He painted the most notable sportsmen of the day; the staff and hounds of famous hunts like the Meadow Brook Hunt, The Cheshire Foxhounds, and the Elkridge-Harford Hunt.

Voss’ work truly shines in his paintings of huntsmen and their horses and hounds, riding out for a day in the country. Called America’s answer to Sir Alfred Munnings, Voss considered himself an animal painter with horses as his primary interest. “I paint what I see,” he once said. “I put in the faults as well as the good points. I don’t make any attempt to ‘pretty up’ a horse.”

Most of Voss’ paintings remain in private collections, handed down from one generation to another. Twelve of his paintings are in the National Museum of Racing, Saratoga Springs, New York. The International Museum of the Horse at the Kentucky Horse Parkin in Lexington Kentucky have twenty three painting commissioned by Calumet Farm.

Voss died of a heart attack in 1953 while foxhunting on his favorite gray hunter with the Elkridge-Harford Hunt. He died doing what he loved best and the exact spot in the countryside he most loved.