Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

UNTITLED FROM PAUL KANE

Date

1938

Materials

COTTON CANVAS, WOOD, OIL PAINT

No. Pieces

1

Length

33

Width

33

Description

STRETCHED CANVAS ON WOOD FRAME. UNTITLED, DEPICTS A MAN ON HORSEBACK WITH BOW PURSUING A SINGLE BUFFALO. SIGNED BL "TWO GUN 1938". REVERSE: WRITTEN IN PENCIL, "BY TWO GUN OR PERCY PLAIN WOMAN 1938 43 YRS OLD FROM A PAINTING BY PAUL KANE".

Subjects

INDIGENOUS

ART

Historical Association

FINE ARTS

History

DONATED TO MEDICINE HAT MUSEUM BY T.Y. BURKITT, & TRANSFERRED TO GALT MUSEUM. THE GALT MUSEUM HAS A NUMBER OF TWO GUNS WORKS ON CANVAS & MASONITE IN PERMANANT COLLECTION. T.Y BURKITT, ORIGINAL OWNER CAME TO CANADA FROM HULL, ENGLAND WITH HER PARENTS WHO SETTLED IN CARDSTON. SHE WAS A PAINTER IN HER OWN RIGHT & HER FAVOURED SUBJECTS WERE NATIVES & NATIVE LIFE. SHE WAS A MEMBER OF THE LETHBRIDGE SKETCH CLUB. FOR A COMPLETE HISTORY OF BURKITT SEE P19672488000-GA. *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 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 FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ON PAUL KANE, THE 19TH CENTURY PAINTER THAT INSPIRED THIS PAINTING, WAS RETREIVED FROM THE WEBSITE OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA: "KNOWN PRIMARILY FOR HIS IMAGES OF THE WESTERN LANDSCAPE AND OF THE CUSTOMS AND VISAGES OF DIFFERENT ABORIGINAL PEOPLES, PAUL KANE MADE ONE OF THE MOST EXTENSIVE PICTORIAL RECORDS OF THE 19TH CENTURY NORTHWEST. HE TRAVELED FROM FORT WILLIAM (THUNDER BAY) TO FORT VANCOUVER ON THE PACIFIC COAST AT A TIME WHEN THE FUR TRADE WAS BEGINNING TO DECLINE. IN GRAPHITE, WATERCOLOUR AND OIL ON PAPER, KANE PRODUCED MORE THAN 700 SKETCHES AS WELL AS JOURNAL DESCRIPTIONS. ONE HUNDRED LARGE-SCALE OIL ON CANVAS PAINTINGS DEPICTING SCENES OF NATIVE LIFE IN NORTH AMERICA WERE PRODUCED BASED ON HIS FIELD WORK. BORN IN 1810 IN MALLOW, COUNTY CORK, IRELAND, KANE EMIGRATED AT THE AGE OF NINE TO TORONTO (THEN NAMED “YORK”). HE STUDIED PAINTING AND MADE HIS LIVING AS AN ITINERANT PORTRAIT PAINTER. TO BROADEN HIS SKILL IN THE USE OF COLOUR, KANE TRAVELED TO ROME, NAPLES, FLORENCE, VENICE AND LONDON TO COPY THE OLD MASTERS. IN LONDON AFTER FOUR YEARS OF EUROPEAN STUDY, AN IRREVOCABLE SHIFT ENSUED IN THE 32-YEAR-OLD PAINTER’S CAREER WHEN HE MET THE AMERICAN ARTIST GEORGE CATLIN. BETWEEN 1830-1836 GEORGE CATLIN (1796-1872) HAD PAINTED AND RECORDED THE CULTURE OF 48 DIFFERENT NATIVE TRIBES OF THE AMERICAN GREAT PLAINS. KANE WAS INSPIRED TO ALSO ASSEMBLE A VISUAL RECORD OF ABORIGINAL PEOPLES. WHEN KANE FINALLY SET OUT IN 1845, HIS ARTISTIC AIM WAS TO PAINT THE OJIBWA AS ACCURATELY AS POSSIBLE IN A EUROPEAN TRADITION. HE TRAVELED AND RECORDED FOR THREE YEARS. LIKE CATLIN, KANE WAS MOTIVATED TO DOCUMENT BECAUSE OF HIS BELIEF THAT THE WILDERNESS AND ABORIGINAL WAYS OF LIFE WOULD BE DESTROYED BY EUROPEAN WESTWARD EXPANSION. MANY OF HIS EXPERIENCES CONFIRMED THIS BELIEF INCLUDING WITNESSING ONE OF THE LAST GREAT BUFFALO HUNTS ALONG THE MANITOBA-DAKOTA BORDER. HOWEVER, DESPITE SEEKING OUT TESTIMONIALS TO ASSERT HIS FAITHFUL RENDERING OF LANDSCAPES AND PORTRAITS IN THE FIELD, KANE’S STUDIO PAINTINGS OFTEN REFLECTED EUROCENTRIC ATTITUDES. KANE OFTEN COMPOSED HIS PAINTINGS FROM SPOT SKETCHES AND ENHANCED THEM BASED ON ITALIAN AND FRENCH PROTOTYPES, [SOMETIMES] HEIGHTENING THE MOMENT BY INCLUDING A STORMY SKY AND DRAMATIC LIGHTING. WHILE KANE HAS BEEN CRITIQUED AS A “RECORDER” IN THE FIELD AND AN “ARTIST” IN THE STUDIO, THESE EUROPEAN CONVENTIONS MET THE DEMANDS OF 19TH CENTURY ART PATRONS. A MEETING WITH SIR GEORGE SIMPSON OF THE HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY SECURED HIS EXTENSIVE EXPEDITION. SIMPSON GRANTED THE ARTIST FREE BOARD, LODGING AND TRANSPORTATION IN COMPANY TERRITORY (ROUGHLY ONE QUARTER OF NORTH AMERICA) AND COMMISSIONED A DOZEN SKETCHES OF NATIVE AMERICAN LIFE FOR SIMPSON’S PERSONAL MUSEUM OF “INDIAN CURIOSITIES.” KANE’S SKETCHES AND JOURNALS WERE THE BASIS FOR HIS IMMENSELY SUCCESSFUL CLASSIC ‘WANDERINGS OF AN ARTIST AMONG THE INDIANS OF NORTH AMERICA’ PUBLISHED IN 1859. IN 1853, 44-YEAR-OLD KANE MARRIED HIS FORMER SWEETHEART, HARRIET CLENCH OF COBOURG AND RAISED FOUR CHILDREN IN TORONTO. WHILE HIS TRAVELS WERE OVER, SEVERAL OF HIS PAINTINGS WERE EXHIBITED AT THE 1855 WORLD FAIR IN PARIS TO WIDE ACCLAIM. HE DIED SUDDENLY AT THE AGE OF 61 AND IS BURIED IN TORONTO’S ST. JAMES CEMETERY." SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR A HARD COPY OF PAUL KANE'S BIOGRAPHY.

Catalogue Number

P19890011000

Acquisition Date

1989-05

Collection

Museum

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