Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

CHIEF SHOT BOTH SIDES

Date Range From

1950

Date Range To

1959

Materials

OIL ON BOARD, WOOD

No. Pieces

1

Height

83

Length

64.5

Description

PORTRAIT OF CHIEF SHOT BOTH SIDES. BACKGROUND GREY ONE SIDE DEPICTING A BR HAND AND THREE HORSES IN ORANGE, RD AND YLLW. CENTER OF IMAGE DISPLAYS AN ELDER ABORIGINAL MAN IN TRADITIONAL DRESS INCLUDING A LARGE FEATHER HEAD DRESS.

Subjects

INDIGENOUS

ART

Historical Association

FINE ARTS

History

PORTRAIT SUBJECT CLAIMED TO BE CHIEF SHOT BOTH SIDES AND ARTIST ATTRIBUTED TO BE PERCY PLAIN WOMEN (AKA. TWO GUN). DONOR'S FATHER R.H. JEACOCK OPERATED THE 2ND LARGEST INSURANCE BUSINESS IN LETHBRIDGE. JEACOCK IS THOUGHT TO HAVE COME INTO CONTACT WITH TWO GUN BECAUSE OF HIS KNOWN DEALINGS WITH PERSONS ON THE BLOOD RESERVE. DONOR CLAIMED THAT TWO GUN VISITED JEACOCK'S BUSINESS IN THE 50S AND GAVE HIS FATHER THREE PAINTINGS IN EXCHANGE FOR CASH. JEACOCK WAS ASKED BY TWO GUN TO HOLD THE WORKS UNTIL HE COULD RETURN TO PAY OFF THE LOAN AND COLLECT THE WORKS. TWO GUN NEVER RETURNED SO THE PAINTINGS REMAINED IN JEACOCKS HANDS. IN 1969 OR 1970 THE DONOR'S FATHER MOVED TO SPAIN AND GAVE THE DONOR THE LARGEST OF THREE PAINTINGS. THE OTHER TWO WERE GIVEN TO SOME OF HIS FATHERS FRIENDS FOR SAFEKEEPING, THE LOCATION OF THE OTHER TWO WORKS IS UNKNOWN. THE PAINTING IS NOT SIGNED. IN 1973 THE DONOR ATTEMPTED TO LOCATED TWO GUN TO ASK FOR THE PAINTING TO BE SIGNED. TWO GUN'S SIGNATURE BEING TWO RIFFLES CROSSED WITH TWO GUN WRITTEN BETWEEN THE BARRELS OF THE TWO RIFFLES. THE DEPARTMENT INFORMED THE DONOR THAT TWO GUN HAD DIED ABOUT SIX MONTHS PRIOR. THE PAINTING WAS RE-FRAMED IN THE MID-80S AND HUNG IN THE DONOR'S HOME UNTIL IT WAS DONATED TO THE GALT MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES. *UPDATE* IN 2014 COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT JANE EDMUNDSON CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF ART OBJECTS. SHE DEVELOPED THE FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHY OF THE ARTIST, TWO GUN, WITH INFORMATION FROM CALGARY AND LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLES AND RECORD P20130026000. PERCY “TWO GUN” PLAIN WOMAN WAS BORN IN 1895 AND RAISED ON THE KAINAI RESERVE. WITH A GRADE SEVEN EDUCATION, HE LEFT RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL TO TAKE UP LIFE AS A COW PUNCHER. HE SOON BECAME AN EXPERT RIDER AND BRONC BUSTER AND RODEOED THROUGHOUT THE WEST. TWO GUN WAS NEARLY 50 BEFORE HE BEGAN TO TAKE A SERIOUS INTEREST IN ART. AS A MIDDLE-AGED MAN HE TOOK A FEW LESSONS AT THE BANFF SCHOOL OF FINE ART, AND PAINTED TRADITIONAL DESIGNS ON TEEPEES PRIOR TO HIS LATER PORTRAITURE PRACTICE. HIS DEPICTIONS OF TRADITIONAL NATIVE LIFE AND PORTRAITS OF IMPORTANT BLOOD AND BLACKFOOT INDIVIDUALS BECAME WELL KNOWN IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA AND MONTANA. TWO GUN WAS COMMISSIONED TO PAINT A HISTORY OF THE BLACKFOOT TRIBES ON THE LOBBY WALLS OF THE PRINCE OF WALES HOTEL IN WATERTON LAKES NATIONAL PARK. HE FIRST SOLD HIS PAINTINGS TO A LOCAL RESTAURANT FOR $5.00 BUT AS HE BECAME KNOWN DEMAND FOR HIS WORKS INCREASED. IT WAS ONLY IN THE LATER YEARS OF HIS LIFE THAT HE MADE A LIVING OFF HIS ART. DURING THE 1950S TWO GUN CONTRACTED TUBERCULOSIS AND WAS A PATIENT AT CHARLES CAMSELL HOSPITAL IN EDMONTON FOR FOUR YEARS. HE DIED AT AGE 66 IN CARDSTON HOSPITAL. HE USED THE SYMBOL OF TWO CROSSED OR PARALLEL RIFLES TO ACCOMPANY HIS SIGNATURE IN MANY CASES, AS THE NAME TWO GUN WAS HANDED DOWN BY AN UNCLE, CHIEF EAGLECHILD. HIS NEPHEW WAS GERALD TAILFEATHERS, ALSO A WELL-KNOWN CANADIAN NATIVE ARTIST. FOR COPIES OF CALGARY AND LETHBRIDGE HERALD NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ON TWO GUN, SEE PERMANENT FILE P20030029000. FOR HARDCOPIES OF THE ARTIST'S DEATH REGISTRATION, MATERIAL DEVELOPED FOR A 1990 EXHIBITION OF HIS WORK, AND CORRESPONDANCE BETWEEN MUSEUM STAFF AND HUGH DEMPSEY REGARDING THE ARTIST, SEE PERMANENT FILE P19640615000. THE FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ON THIS PORTRAIT'S SUBJECT, CHIEF SHOT BOTH SIDES (SOMETIMES CALLED "SHOT-ON-BOTH-SIDES"), WAS EXCERPTED FROM THE BOOK 'KAINAI CHIEFTANSHIP: HISTORY, EVOLUTION AND CULTURE OF THE BLOOD INDIANS, ORIGIN OF THE SUN DANCE' BY ARCHDEACON S.H. MIDDLETON, AND THE WEBSITE OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA: ATSO'TOAH, AS KNOWN AS SHOT-ON-BOTH-SIDES, WAS BORN IN THE SPRING OF 1873, FOUR YEARS BEFORE THE SIGNING OF TREATY NUMBER SEVEN IN 1877, AND DESCENDED FROM A LINE OF FAMOUS WARRIORS. SON OF CROP EARED-WOLF, AND GRANDSON OF THE NOTED BRAVE AND LEADER, RED CROW, THE ROBE OF HEAD CHIEF FELL ABOUT HIS SHOULDERS AT THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER IN 1913. AS THE REPOSITORY OF THE MYTHOLOGY AND FOLKLORE OF HIS PEOPLE, HE PASSED THROUGH THE HORN SOCIETY NO LESS THAN EIGHT TIMES; THROUGH THE BLACK SEIZERS TWICE, AND PASSED PROGRESSIVELY THROUGH THE SOLDIER SOCIETIES, THE DOVES, THE BRAVES, THE CRAZY DOGS, THE CROW CARRIERS AND THE MOSQUITOES. AMONGST THE SACRED OBJECTS ENTRUSTED TO HIM WERE THE SACRED BUNDLES OF THE BUFFALO STONE NECKLACE; THE WRISTLETS OF THE BLACK SEIZERS; THE HORN HEADDRESS; THE WEASEL-TAIL ROBE; THE BUFFALO-HEAD TEPEE; THE LONG-TIME -MEDICINE-PIPE; THE SUN-LODGE HIDE, AND VARIOUS OTHER ARTICLES, INCLUDING AN ANCIENT SWORD AND MEDICINE DRUM. CHIEF SHOT-ON-BOTH-SIDES DIED IN 1956.

Catalogue Number

P20060007000

Acquisition Date

2006-05

Collection

Museum

Less detail