Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

UNTITLED PORTRAIT

Date Range From

1930

Date Range To

1950

Materials

WOOD, OIL PAINT

No. Pieces

1

Height

60

Width

53

Description

OIL ON BOARD PORTRAIT OF ADULT MALE, NATIVE IN TRADITIONAL REGALIA, INCLUDING FUR HAT WITH FEATHER. PROFILE, FACING RIGHT. WORK IS ATTRIBUTTED TO KAINAI ARTIST TWO GUN.

Subjects

INDIGENOUS

ART

Historical Association

FINE ARTS

History

UNTITLED PORTRAIT, BELIEVED TO BE CHIEF MANY DIFFERENT HORSES, A KAINAI NATION CHIEF. (SOURCE: HUGH DEMPSEY, GLENBOW MUSEUM). WRITTEN ON REVERSE: "OIL PAINTING BY PERCY PLAIN WOMAN INDIAN NAME TWO GUN MACLEOD ALTA, CANADA" PURCHASED BY ROBT. SWIFT HODSON, AN EARLY PIONEER IN CALGARY AREA, FROM ARTIST. OWNED BY GORDON HEWITT, PAINTING SOLD BY PETLEY JONES GALLERY, ACTING AS AGENT FOR HEWITT TO MUSEUM. FOR HISTORY OF TWO GUN SEE P19890011000-GA. SEE ATTACHED LETTER. *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.

Catalogue Number

P19900044000

Acquisition Date

1990-11

Collection

Museum

Less detail