Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

"CHIEF OWNS DIFFERENT HORSES"

Date Range From

1940

Date Range To

1950

Materials

OIL, CANVAS, WOOD

No. Pieces

1

Height

2.3

Length

39.5

Width

33.7

Description

OIL ON CANVAS-BOARD IN DARK-BROWN WOOD FRAME; SIDE-PROFILE PORTRAIT OF MAN WITH TWO FUR WRAPPED BRAIDS, AND WHITE CIRCULAR EARING. MAN HAS BLACK HAIR LOOKING TOWARDS SIDE OF FRAME, BLUE AND ORANGE BACKGROUND BEHIND SITTER. TWO BLACK PARALLEL RIFLES PAINTED IN LEFT CORNER, TWO GUN’S SIGNATURE. BACK OF FRAME HAS PENCIL, “CHIEF OWNS DIFFERENT HORSES.” AND GREEN WIRE. SMALL FRAMING NAILS HOLD BOARD IN FRAME. FRONT OF PAINTING HAS SMALL STAIN IN TOP LEFT CORNER, PAINT IS CRACKING THROUGHOUT; MORE SEVERELY ALONG SITTERS’ HAIRLINE AND BOTTOM OF PAINTING, DUST PRESENT THROUGHOUT PAINTING FRONT, BACK OF BOARD HAS ROUGH SECTIONS AND PAINT SPLATTERS THROUGHOUT LEFT EDGE, FRAME BOTTOM HAS ROUGH TEXTURE, SMALL CRACK IN TOP LEFT CORNER, DUST PRESENT ALONG CREASES IN FRAME. OVERALL 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 MAY 23, 2024, COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN, KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED ROB GAIR ABOUT HIS DONATION OF A TWO GUN SIGNED PAINTING. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS DERIVED FROM THAT INTERVIEW. ON HOW HE RECOGNIZED THE WORK, GAIR EXPLAINED: “…IT WAS ALWAYS IN MY GRANDMOTHER’S (AUDREY MOFFITT) LIVING ROOM, FROM CHILDHOOD I ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WAS HERS, BUT I DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HOW SHE GOT IT. THEN I FOUND AN OLD PHOTO, (WHICH I CAN’T LOCATE RIGHT NOW), THAT WAS TAKEN INSIDE MY GREAT-GRANDPARENT’S (TOM AND SARAH HALLIWELL) HOUSE… IN FORT MACLEOD, AND THIS [PAINTING] WAS IN THE PHOTO, ON THE WALL OF THE HOUSE. SO, I THEN REALIZED THAT IT WAS PROBABLY [TOM AND SARAH HALLIWELL’S] AT ONE TIME, AND I KNEW THE PAINTING WAS, THEREFORE, PROBABLY FROM SOUTHERN ALBERTA….” ON WHO HIS GREAT-GRANDPARENTS WERE, GAIR EXPLAINED: “…MY GREAT GRANDFATHER, TOM HALLIWELL, WAS THE OWNER AND EDITOR OF THE MACLEOD GAZETTE, FROM THE LATE 1930’S TO THE EARLY 1960’S WHEN HE RETIRED… I BELIEVED MY GRANDMOTHER, AUDREY MOFFITT, ACQUIRED [THE PAINTING] PROBABLY WHEN MY GREAT-GRANDMOTHER MOVED HERE, FROM FORT MACLEOD TO LETHBRIDGE, IN AROUND 1971.” GAIR SPECULATED ON HOW HIS GREAT-GRANDPARENTS CAME INTO POSSESSION OF THE ARTWORK: “THE ONLY THING THAT I CAN THINK IS MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER… MIGHT HAVE HAD SOME CONNECTION THROUGH HIS WORK AT THE MACLEOD GAZETTE, BUT I REALLY HAVE NO IDEA.” GAIR ELABORATED ON WHY THIS WORK STOOD OUT TO HIM AT HIS GRANDMOTHER AUDREY MOFFITT’S HOUSE: “[THE PAINTING] WAS JUST DIFFERENT FROM ANYTHING ELSE IN THE HOUSE. [MY GRANDPARENTS] HAD A TV ROOM… [AND] IT WAS THERE FOR A LONG TIME, THEN SOMEHOW, I ACQUIRED [THE PAINTING]… [AUDREY MOFFITT] ENDED UP MOVING HERE [TO LETHBRIDGE] AFTER SHE RETIRED, AND I THINK SHE BROUGHT [THE PAINTING] WITH HER HERE, AND, AT SOME POINT, SHE GAVE IT TO ME…” FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE TWO GUN SIGNED PAINTING, OR TO SEE THE FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS, PLEASE SEE THE DONATION’S PERMANENT FILE.

Catalogue Number

P20240009000

Acquisition Date

2024-05

Collection

Museum

Less detail