Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

UNTITLED PORTRAIT- MALE

Date Range From

1935

Date Range To

1940

Materials

OIL, CANVAS, WOOD

No. Pieces

1

Height

3.0

Length

43.5

Width

41.0

Description

OIL ON CANVAS-BOARD IN GOLD FRAME; PORTRAIT OF INDIGENOUS MAN WITH WHITE CIRCULAR PENDANT NECKLACE AND EARING. MAN HAS BLACK HAIR WITH TWO BRAIDS AND TWO RED TIES IN HAIR. SINGULAR WHITE-CIRCLE EARRING HANGING FROM PORTRAIT-SITTERS RIGHT EAR. WHITE CIRCULAR PENDANT NECKLACE HAS RED-CIRCULAR CHAIN AROUND PORTRAIT-SITTERS NECK. BOTTOM LEFT CORNER SIGNED “TWO GUN.” BACKSIDE OF FRAME, NEAR BOTTOM, PINK STICKER READS: “FROM ALEX WOOD COMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHER AND PICTURE FRAMER 840 – 12 STREET SOUTH LETHBRIDGE ALBERTA.” CANVAS HAS SLIGHT WARPING AND BUBBLING NEAR TOP, DUST PRESENT ALONG BOTTOM OF CANVAS, PAPER ON BACK OF FRAME HAS TEARS AND WATER DAMAGE THROUGHOUT, WIRE ON BACK IS BENT, EDGES OF FRAME ON BACK ARE WORN. OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION.

Subjects

ART

INDIGENOUS

Historical Association

FINE ARTS

History

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 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. ON SEPTEMBER 14, 2021, COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN, KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED RICHARD DAVIDSON ABOUT HIS DONATION OF AN UNTITLED OIL PAINTING SIGNED “TWO GUN.” ON WHAT DAVIDSON RECALLED ABOUT THE PAINTINGS ORIGINAL HOME: “…I REMEMBER IT SO WELL. IT HUNG IN MY GRANDFATHER AND GRANDMOTHER’S [ROY AND LILLIAN DAVIDSON] LIVING ROOM – [AT] 1301 FOURTH AVENUE SOUTH – AND I CAN REMEMBER MY GRANDFATHER TALKING ABOUT [THE PAINTING] MANY TIMES, AND HE WOULD ALWAYS TELL THE STORY ABOUT HOW [NICHOLAS DE] GRANDMAISON WAS A FAMOUS CANADIAN ARTIST, BUT I DON’T BELIEVE [GRANDMAISON] WAS A LOCAL CANADIAN ARTIST… BUT [ROY] WAS QUITE PROUD OF THE FACT THAT APPARENTLY [PERCY “TWO GUN” PLAINSWOMAN] MADE A CAREER OUT OF BASICALLY COPYING WORKS OF GRANDMAISON, AND THEY WERE ORIGINAL ART PIECES, BUT, IN A WAY, THEY WERE COPIES… SO, I KNOW MY GRANDFATHER WAS PARTICULARLY HAPPY ABOUT THAT BECAUSE HE UNDERSTOOD AT LEAST THAT TWO GUN WAS MORE OF A LOCAL PERSONALITY THAN WAS GRANDMAISON… I GREW UP, BASICALLY, WITH THIS PICTURE…” DAVIDSON CONTINUED ON HOW HE CAME INTO POSSESION OF THE PAINTING: “…WHEN MY GRANDPARENTS DIED, IT WAS OFFERED TO US, AND WE TOOK IT, HAPPILY, WE ACTUALLY HAD IT HANGING FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS IN OUR HOME. BUT, THEN, MY WIFE DEVELOPED A HEART [SHAPE] FETISH, AND SO, GRADUALLY, OUR MANY WORKS OF ART GOT REPLACED BY HEART PICTURES, SO [TWO GUN’S PAINTING] FOUND ITS WAY TO THE BASEMENT, UNFORTUNATELY.” DAVIDSON COMMENTED ON WHY HE TOOK THE PAINTING AS PART OF HIS GRANDPARENT’S ESTATE, “…I FELT A CONNECTION WITH [THE PAINTING] BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, I HAD ALWAYS KIND OF ADMIRED IT IN [ROY’S] HOME, AND HE WAS ALWAYS HAPPY TO TALK ABOUT [THE PAINTING]. I WAS ALWAYS INTERESTED IN THE HISTORY OF THINGS.” FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE PAINTING SIGNED “TWO GUN,” OR TO SEE THE FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS, PLEASE SEE THE DONATION’S PERMANENT FILE.

Catalogue Number

P20210010000

Acquisition Date

2021-09

Collection

Museum

Less detail