From the collection of:
International Museum of the Horse || VAM Home

This painting depicts the thoroughbred Citation in 1948, the year of his Triple Crown victory for Calumet Farm. Citation is one of six Calumet horses to have been elected to the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame.

About the Artist

Horses were a natural artistic subject for Franklin Voss, who was a great hunting and racing enthusiast himself. Voss studied for seven years at the Art Student’s League of New York, one of the most important art schools of the day. His education included the basics of composition, color, and light, with particular attention to anatomy—as is evident in the striking accuracy of his equine portraits. He painted the great horses of his day, including Man O’ War, and is credited by many as the best sporting artist of the 20th century. Voss maintained that he painted each one of his approximately 500 commissioned portraits from life, never a photograph. Voss died doing what he loved, foxhunting with his hounds.

Classroom Ideas

Discussion: Compare Franklin Voss’ portraits of Citation and Whirlaway with Henry Stull’s Checkmate with Isaac Murphy Aboard (in the Kentucky Derby Museum collection of the Kentucky Virtual Art Museum). How do the paintings differ? How are they alike? Do you prefer one artist to the other?

Activity:Use resources available to you at the library or online to research equine anatomy. (The online educational materials that accompany the International Museum of the Horse exhibit “Kentucky Bloodlines: The Legacy of Henry Clay” include a handout about the horse’s anatomical structure [PDF file; www.kyhorsepark.com/khp/gallery/Handouts.pdf].) How has Voss incorporated his knowledge of the subject into his paintings?

Links

Read several brief articles about Voss and see examples of his work at the Museum of Hounds and Hunting at Morven Park.
[www.morvenpark.org/voss.htm]

To learn more about Citation, check out his profiles in the Thoroughbred Times and the Unofficial Thoroughbred Hall of Fame.
[www.thoroughbredtimes.com/tc99/history/winners/citation/default.asp]
[sky.prohosting.com/spiletta/UTHOF/citation.html]