Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

CHIEF MOUNTAIN HORSE

Date

1957

Materials

OIL, BOARD, WOOD

No. Pieces

1

Height

49

Length

39

Width

3.5

Description

OIL ON CANVAS BOARD. FRONTAL PORTRAIT OF MAN WEARING BLUE AND WHITE ROUND EARRINGS, WITH BLACK HAIR IN TWO BRAIDS. AN UPRIGHT EAGLE FEATHER IS VISIBLE BEHIND FIGURE’S LEFT EAR. MAN’S FACE IS WRINKLED AND HE WEARS A WHITE SHIRT WITH STRIPED PATTERN IN RED, PURPLE, BLUE, GREEN AND YELLOW. BACKGROUND IS GREY AND BROWN. SIGNED “TWO GUN, 57” WITH TWO STYLIZED RIFLES AT BOTTOM LEFT. TITLED “CHIEF MOUNTAIN HORSE” AT BOTTOM CENTRE. WOODEN FRAME PAINTED GOLD WITH WIRE HANGER AT BACK. CARDBOARD BACKING SHOWS FADING AND BACKING TAPE IS RIPPED ALONG LEFT SIDE. CONDITION VERY GOOD OVERALL.

Subjects

ART

INDIGENOUS

Historical Association

FINE ARTS

History

THIS PAINTING, ALONG WITH P20140023001 AND P20140023003, WAS ORIGINALLY PURCHASED FROM THE ARTIST, TWO GUN, BY THE DONOR’S FATHER, STANLEY PESZAT SR. OF LETHBRIDGE. ON AUGUST 29, 2014, GALT COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED STANLEY PESZAT JR. ABOUT THREE PAINTINGS BY TWO GUN THAT HAD BEEN HANGING IN THE PESZAT FAMILY CABIN IN WATERTON, PRIOR TO THE CABIN BEING SOLD IN 2014. PESZAT SAID: “THE PESZAT FAMILY ACQUIRED THE [WATERTON] PROPERTY FROM THE PARKS DEPARTMENT BACK IN 1955… OVER THE YEARS, IT DEVELOPED INTO A SECOND HOME, OUR RETREAT. AND MY PARENTS SPENT CONSIDERABLE TIME AMASSING VARIOUS COLLECTIBLES TO… GIVE IT A PERSONALITY… MY FATHER AND MOTHER OWNED STAN’S MENSWEAR ON 5TH STREET LETHBRIDGE. THEY, TOGETHER, BUILT THAT BUSINESS INTO SOMETHING THAT WAS PART OF LETHRBIDGE’S GROWTH. ONE DAY, WHEN I WAS STILL A TEENAGER… THIS WOULD BE SEPTEMBER, LATE 1950S… A GENTLEMAN, A NATIVE, CAME IN AND SOMEBODY POINTED HIM TO MY FATHER… [IT WAS] TWO GUN, COMING IN WITH ONE PICTURE… HE SAID “ARE YOU INTERESTED IN SOME ART?... I’M A PAINTER.”…DAD SAID “KIND OF INTERESTED, TELL ME ABOUT IT.” TWO GUN WENT INTO A STORY BRIEFLY… HE CONSUMMATED A SALE AND… AS HE TURNED AROUND, MY DAD SAID “YOU KNOW, IF YOU PAINT ANY MORE OF THESE, COME AND SEE ME.”… A FEW MONTHS LATER, TWO GUN… SHOWS UP WITH THE SECOND VERSION, AND THEN THE SMALLER ONES FOLLOWED… [DAD] REALLY TOOK A LIKING TO THE UNIQUE STYLE OF THOSE PAINTINGS… SOMETHING THAT WAS DRAMATIC AND UNIQUE AND HANDMADE… SO THOSE WERE ON THE WALL [OF THE WATERTON CABIN] WITH THE BEAR SKIN RUGS, AND SOME OTHER COLLECTIBLES… THINGS YOU KIND OF SAT BACK AND LOOKED AT, AND SMILED…” FOR A TRANSCRIPT OF THE FULL INTERVIEW, INCLUDING DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PESZAT FAMILY HISTORY AND CONSTRUCTION OF THEIR PAN-ABODE CABIN IN WATERTON, SEE PERMANENT FILE. FOR PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE ARTWORKS HANGING ON THE CABIN WALLS, SEE GALT ARCHIVES RECORD 20141087. THE ARTIST OF THIS PAINTING, 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 KAINAI 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 SUBJECT OF THIS PAINTING, IDENTIFIED AS “CHIEF MOUNTAIN HORSE”, IS LIKELY JIM MOUNTAIN HORSE, GIVEN THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THIS PORTRAIT AND UNTITLED PORTRAITS P19930018001-GA AND P19738755000-GA, WHICH WERE LINKED TO AN IDENTIFIED "MOUNTAIN HORSE" PORTRAIT IN THE POSSESSION OF LYLE YOUNG (SEE RECORD P19930018001 FOR DETAILS OF YOUNG'S CONTACT WITH GALT MUSEUM STAFF REGARDING HIS PAINTING). A TRIBUTE ARTICLE FROM THE OCTOBER 15, 1937 ISSUE OF THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD PROVIDED THE FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND A PHOTOGRAPH OF CHIEF MOUNTAIN HORSE IN A POSE VERY SIMILAR TO THIS PAINTING AS WELL AS P19930018001-GA AND P19738755000-GA. JIM MOUNTAIN HORSE WAS BORN C.1857, AS A MEMBER OF THE KAINAI NATION. HE WAS A WARRIOR AND FOUGHT IN THE LAST RECORDED BATTLE BETWEEN THE BLOOD AND CREE FIRST NATIONS ALONG THE OLDMAN (BELLY) RIVER IN THE FALL OF 1872. MOUNTAIN HORSE GREW UP TO BE A MINOR CHIEF OF THE KAINAI NATION AND HAD THREE SONS WHO ALL FOUGHT IN WORLD WAR I, INCLUDING THE CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED AUTHOR MIKE MOUNTAIN HORSE. JIM MOUNTAIN HORSE IS PICTURED IN A 1935 PHOTOGRAPH OF THE LETHBRIDGE OLD-TIMER'S ( GALT ARCHIVES 20001076304), AND WHEN HE DIED ON OCTOBER 13, 1937, HIS CASKET WAS DRAPED IN THE UNION JACK AND HIS FUNERAL ATTENDED BY JOHN PUGH, THE KAINAI RESERVE INDIAN AGENT. HE WAS THE LAST LIVING SURVIVOR OF THE OLDMAN RIVER BATTLE. CHIEF JIM MOUNTAIN HORSE IS BURIED ON THE KAINAI RESERVE. FOR HARDCOPY OF JIM MOUNTAIN HORSE TRIBUTE ARTICLE, SEE PERMANENT FILE P19738755000.

Catalogue Number

P20140023002

Acquisition Date

2014-07

Collection

Museum

Less detail