WILLIAM HARNDEN FOSTER

Artist, writer, breeder of setters, and field trialer William Harnden Foster was born in Andover, Massachusetts on July 22, 1886. Trained at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Howard Pyle Art Colony in Wilmington, Delaware, Foster’s first published work–text and illustrations–appeared in Scribner’s Magazine in a series on trains entitled, All in a Day’s Run. Scribners also commissioned Foster to cover the building of the Panama Canal and to paint a series on “aero planes.” Foster served as editor of both National Sportsman and Hunting and Fishing magazines for fifteen years. As a painter, Foster is best known for his dog portraits. An avid sportsman, he is also known for his classic book, New England Grouse Shooting (1942), written and illustrated by the artist, and for co-inventing the shooting game, Skeet. Foster passed away of a heart attack while covering the New England Open Grouse Championship in 1941.