The Voss Family, Artists of American Sporting Life exhibited at National Sporting Library from August 29, 2008 to February 28, 2009

The Voss Family, Artists of American Sporting Life opened to the public at the National Sporting Library on August 29, 2008 and closed on February 28, 2009. Organized by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. and curated by Ms. Gregory R. Weidman, the exhibition at the NSL featured more than sixty works of art by this prolific family of sporting artists who depicted the champions of the American turf and other sporting subjects.

Franklin Brooke Voss (1880-1953) was one of the foremost equestrian artists of the twentieth century, painting such champions of American flat racing such as Man o’War, Equipoise, Seabiscuit, War Admiral, Sir Barton, and Whirlaway for the premier racing families such as the Whitneys, Riddles, Vanderbilts, Phippses, and Wideners. Franklin Voss also depicted steeplechase races, foxhunting, and coaching. He was also a noted dog portraitist. His brother, Edward Somerville Voss (1883-1969), was known for his lively watercolors of foxhunting scenes, and sister, Jessie Voss Lewis (1876-1962), captured family members in the medium of pastel. Franklin’s sister-in-law, Elsa Horne Voss (1895-1982), sculpted small bronzes of animals. Each family member is represented in the exhibition.

The painting of legendary champion racehorse Man o’War with his jockey, Hall of Famer Johnny Loftus, is one of the artist’s most recognizable works. The exhibit featured some of Voss’s preliminary sketches still owned by the family, displayed alongside the related completed works.

“The number of works and the talented family of artists provide an exciting exhibit that we will proudly host at the NSL,” said President and CEO, Nancy H. Parsons, prior to the opening of the exhibition. “I am especially grateful to Rodion Cantacuzene [of Aldie, Va.] for his enthusiasm and assistance in bringing this show to the Library.”

The exhibit brought together works by the Voss family from three museums and almost thirty private lenders. The National Sporting Library owns three paintings included in the exhibition, including Mrs. William C. Langley on Sandown (1921), a handsome portrait of horsewoman Elida Langley riding sidesaddle while foxhunting with the Meadow Brook Hounds on Long Island. The largest contributions of art to the exhibit came from Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Voss and Barbara Voss Noell.

“Lovers of the countryside will bring from the exhibit memories of foxhunters with incredibly beautiful landscapes rolling to horizons,” remarked Peter Winants, an authority on the Voss family. Winants is the author of The Sporting Art of Franklin B. Voss and served as the Director of the National Sporting Library from 1991 to 1998.

The Library was the final stop of the Voss exhibit, which opened at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga on July 22, 2007, and was on view through July 27, 2008 at the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore, Md. The exhibition closed at the National Sporting Library on February 28, 2009.

An accompanying catalogue of the exhibition (published in 2007 by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame) can be purchased at the Library for $10 or ordered by calling 540-687-6542 x 10.

Return to Past Exhibitions.