Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

PORTRAIT CROWFOOT?

Date Range From

1960

Date Range To

1954

Materials

PAINT, GLASS, FOIL

No. Pieces

1

Length

30.8

Width

22.9

Description

DEPICTS HEAD AND SHOULDERS OF INDIANS WITH FEATHER IN HAIR. RED, GREEN, BLACK, BEIGE, SILVER, BROWN, YELLOW, PURPLE, ORANGE. PAINTED UNDER GLASS, WITH COLOURED FOIL SHOWING THROUGH. UNSIGNED.

Subjects

ART

Historical Association

FINE ARTS

History

THYRZA YOUNG BURKITT, ARTIST. POSSIBLE PORTRAIT OF CROWFOOT. *UPDATE* IN 2014 COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT JANE EDMUNDSON CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF ART OBJECTS. SHE DEVELOPED THE FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHY OF THE ARTIST, THYRZA YOUNG BURKITT, WITH INFORMATION FROM ARCHIVES CANADA AND THE MEDICINE HAT ESPLANADE ARCHIVES. THYRZA YOUNG BURKITT (NEE HOLMES), WAS BORN IN HULL, ENGLAND IN 1884. SHE EMIGRATED TO CANADA WITH HER FAMILY AT A YOUNG AGE, SETTLING IN THE CARDSTON AREA. HER FAMILY WERE MEMBERS OF THE MORMON CHURCH. HER FATHER WAS A MAGISTRATE IN CARDSTON, BUT ALSO OWNED A STORE WHICH WAS PATRONIZED BY MANY OF THE LOCAL NATIVE POPULATION. THYRZA DEVELOPED A KEEN INTEREST IN NATIVE CULTURE, AND BEGAN TO BUILD A PERSONAL COLLECTION OF ARTIFACTS FROM THE NEIGHBOURING KAINAI, PIIKANI AND NORTHERN MONTANA BLACKFOOT TRIBES. IN ADDITION, SHE ALSO DEVELOPED A KEEN INTEREST IN NATIVE HANDICRAFTS AND ARTS. ABOUT 1926, THYRZA TOOK UP PAINTING AND LATER STUDIED AT LOS ANGELES AND AT BANFF. HER SUBJECT MATTER WAS ALSO A REFLECTION OF HER INTEREST IN NATIVE AND HISTORIC THEMES. HER MOST FAMOUS WORK, ENTITLED "AN INDIAN ENCAMPMENT", HUNG IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY IN OTTAWA. ALTHOUGH UNCLEAR, IT IS ASSUMED THAT THYRZA FIRST MARRIED GEORGE YOUNG. TWO SONS WERE BORN OF THEIR MARRIAGE; CLISBY AND WALDO. IT APPEARS THE MRS. YOUNG WAS LATER REMARRIED TO CHARLES BURKITT, WHO HAD A SON FROM A PREVIOUS MARRIAGE. HIS NAME WAS ALSO CHARLES. WHEN THYRZA'S FAMILY HAD GROWN, SHE BEGAN WRITING, AUTHORING MANY ARTICLES ON HISTORICAL THEMES, AS WELL AS PLAYS AND BIOGRAPHIES. THYRZA ALSO COMPILED A DICTIONARY OF BLACKFOOT TERMS. THYRZA WAS A CHARTER MEMBER OF THE LETHBRIDGE WRITERS CLUB, A MEMBER OF THE WOMEN'S PRESS CLUB, THE LETHBRIDGE SKETCH CLUB, AND THE CANADIAN AUTHOR'S ASSOCIATION. THYRZA BURKITT PASSED AWAY IN 1954, AND WAS WELL KNOWN IN THE COMMUNITIES OF LETHBRIDGE, CARDSTON AND MEDICINE HAT. MOST OF HER PERSONAL RECORDS AND COLLECTION OF OVER 200 FIRST NATIONS ARTIFACTS, INCLUDING MIKE MOUNTAIN HORSE’S WARRIOR ROBE WERE PURCHASED BY THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE HAT AND DISTRICT IN 1951, AND NOW RESIDE IN THE COLLECTION OF THE ESPLANADE MUSEUM. SEE PERMANENT FILE P19672488000 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE ESPLANADE MUSEUM’S BURKITT FONDS. THE FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ON THIS PORTRAIT'S SUBJECT, CHIEF CROWFOOT, WAS WRITTEN BY HUGH DEMPSEY, AND RETRIEVED FROM THE ONLINE DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY: "ISAPO-MUXIKA (CROWFOOT), BORN C. 1830 NEAR THE BELLY RIVER IN WHAT IS NOW SOUTHERN ALBERTA, SON OF ISTOWUN-EH'LATA (PACKS A KNIFE) AND AXKYAHP-SAY-PI (ATTACKED TOWARD HOME); DIED APRIL 25, 1890, NEAR BLACKFOOT CROSSING, ALBERTA. CROWFOOT WAS BORN INTO THE BLOOD TRIBE OF THE BLACKFOOT CONFEDERACY... WHEN HE WAS FIVE HIS FATHER WAS KILLED BY CROW WARRIORS AND WITHIN A YEAR CROWFOOT'S MOTHER MARRIED AKAY-NEHKA-SIMI (MANY NAMES), A MEMBER OF THE BLACKFOOT TRIBE. TAKEN TO THE BLACKFOOT TRIBE THE BOY WAS GIVEN THE NAME OF KYI-I-STAAH (BEAR GHOST), AND LATER RECEIVED HIS FATHER'S NAME OF ISTOWUN-EH'PATA. AS WAS CUSTOMARY, CROWFOOT BEGAN WHEN IN HIS TEENS TO ACCOMPANY OLDER WARRIORS ON RAIDS AGAINST ENEMY TRIBES. DURING A RAID FOR HORSES ON A CROW CAMP, HE PERFORMED BRAVELY AND WAS WOUNDED, FOR WHICH HE WAS GIVEN HIS ADULT NAME ISAPO-MUXIKA, A NAME THAT HAD BEEN OWNED BY A RELATIVE KILLED SEVERAL YEARS EARLIER. PROPERLY, THE NAME ISAPO-MUXIKA TRANSLATES AS “CROW INDIAN’S BIG FOOT,” BUT IT WAS SHORTENED TO CROWFOOT BY INTERPRETERS. ALTHOUGH CROWFOOT WAS NOT FROM A FAMILY OF CHIEFS AND WAS FROM ANOTHER TRIBE, HE SOON DEMONSTRATED HIS LEADERSHIP ABILITIES AMONG THE BLACKFOOT INDIANS... BEFORE HE WAS 20 YEARS OLD HE HAD BEEN IN 19 BATTLES AND HAD BEEN WOUNDED SIX TIMES. HIS MOST SERIOUS WOUND OCCURRED DURING A WINTER RAID UPON THE SHOSHONI INDIANS; HE WAS SHOT IN THE BACK AND THE LEAD BALL WAS NEVER REMOVED. IN LATER YEARS THIS WOUND MADE IT DIFFICULT FOR HIM TO RIDE HORSES OR TO TRAVEL LONG DISTANCES. CROWFOOT SELDOM WENT TO WAR AFTER HE REACHED MANHOOD. INSTEAD, HE BECAME INVOLVED WITH RAISING HORSES, WHICH MADE HIM WEALTHY, AND IN THE AFFAIRS OF THE TRIBE. IN 1865, WITH THE DEATH OF THE CHIEF OF HIS BAND, NO-OKSKATOS (THREE SUNS), CROWFOOT BECAME A MINOR CHIEF OF THE BLACKFOOT TRIBE, LEADING A BAND OF ABOUT 21 LODGES... IT WAS IN 1865 ALSO THAT CROWFOOT FIRST CAME TO THE ATTENTION OF THE LOCAL WHITE POPULATION AFTER HIS DRAMATIC ROLE IN A BATTLE AT THREE PONDS, WHICH OCCURRED JUST EAST OF THE PRESENT VILLAGE OF HOBBEMA, ALTA. FATHER ALBERT LACOMBE, AN OBLATE MISSIONARY, WAS VISITING A BLACKFOOT CAMP THERE WHEN IT WAS ATTACKED BY CREES. ALTHOUGH GREATLY OUTNUMBERED AND DESPITE CASUALTIES, THE BLACKFEET HELD OFF THE RAIDERS FOR SEVERAL HOURS DURING THE NIGHT. JUST BEFORE DAWN FATHER LACOMBE TRIED TO GET BETWEEN THE LINES TO CALL A TRUCE, BUT HE WAS NOT RECOGNIZED BY THE CREES AND WAS WOUNDED BY A RICOCHETING BULLET. WHEN THE BATTLE SEEMED LOST, CROWFOOT ARRIVED WITH A LARGE NUMBER OF WARRIORS AND THE ENEMY WAS SOON ROUTED... CROWFOOT, AS A MINOR CHIEF, TRIED TO ESTABLISH FRIENDLY RELATIONS WITH WHITE FUR-TRADERS AND MISSIONARIES. LATE IN 1866 HE PREVENTED A NUMBER OF BLACKFOOT WARRIORS FROM LOOTING A TRAIN OF HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY CARTS AND KILLING ITS MÉTIS DRIVERS. THEN, DEFYING A NUMBER OF WARRIOR CHIEFS, HE PROVIDED A SAFE ESCORT FOR THE MÉTIS BACK TO FORT EDMONTON. HE ALSO BECAME A GOOD FRIEND OF HBC TRADER RICHARD CHARLES HARDISTY WHO WAS IN CHARGE OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN HOUSE. IN 1873 CROWFOOT’S ELDEST SON WAS KILLED IN A RAID ON A CREE CAMP, AND THE CHIEF LED A LARGE REVENGE PARTY WHICH SUCCEEDED IN KILLING AN ENEMY WARRIOR. THIS WAS CROWFOOT’S LAST WARLIKE DEED... IN DECEMBER 1874 CROWFOOT FIRST MET JAMES FARQUHARSON MACLEOD, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF THE NWMP, AND THE TWO BECAME FRIENDS. IT WAS LARGELY THROUGH THEIR INFLUENCE THAT WHITE SETTLEMENT IN BLACKFOOT TERRITORY OCCURRED WITHOUT VIOLENCE. MACLEOD INSISTED THAT BLACKFOOT RIGHTS BE RESPECTED, WHILE CROWFOOT ENCOURAGED HIS PEOPLE TO MAINTAIN FRIENDLY RELATIONS WITH THE POLICE... IN 1877 DAVID LAIRD, THE NEW LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORIES, INVITED THE BLACKFOOT, BLOOD, PIEGAN, SARCEE, AND STONY TRIBES TO NEGOTIATE TREATY NO.7 WITH THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT. THESE TRIBES INCLUDED THOSE LIVING IN WHAT IS NOW SOUTHERN ALBERTA SOUTH OF THE RED DEER RIVER, AND NO. 7 WAS THE LAST OF THE TREATIES TO BE NEGOTIATED BY THE CANADIAN AUTHORITIES IN THE 1870S IN A PROGRAMME TO OBTAIN THE SURRENDER OF ALL FIRST NATIONS’ CLAIMS TO THE WESTERN CANADIAN PRAIRIES... NEGOTIATIONS BEGAN ON 16 SEPTEMBER WITH CROWFOOT AS THE PRINCIPAL CHIEF IN ATTENDANCE, AND FOR THE NEXT FOUR DAYS HE LED THE DISCUSSIONS. WHEN THE BLOODS AND PIEGANS FINALLY ARRIVED THEY JOINED CROWFOOT IN AN ALL-NIGHT SESSION TO RECEIVE HIS ACCOUNT OF THE TREATY AND HIS RECOMMENDATIONS. BY DAWN, ALL THE LEADING CHIEFS HAD AGREED TO THE TERMS OF THE TREATY AND, BECAUSE OF CROWFOOT’S ROLE DURING THE NEGOTIATIONS AND HIS FAVOURABLE ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE PACT, HE WAS ASKED TO RESPOND FOR THE ENTIRE BLACKFOOT NATION: “WHILE I SPEAK, BE KIND AND PATIENT. I HAVE TO SPEAK FOR MY PEOPLE, WHO ARE NUMEROUS, AND WHO RELY UPON ME TO FOLLOW THAT COURSE WHICH IN THE FUTURE WILL TEND TO THEIR GOOD. THE PLAINS ARE LARGE AND WIDE. WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE PLAINS, IT IS OUR HOME, AND THE BUFFALO HAS BEEN OUR FOOD ALWAYS. I HOPE YOU LOOK UPON THE BLACKFEET, BLOODS AND SARCEES AS YOUR CHILDREN NOW, AND THAT YOU WILL BE INDULGENT AND CHARITABLE TO THEM. . . . THE ADVICE GIVEN ME AND MY PEOPLE HAS PROVED TO BE VERY GOOD. IF THE POLICE HAD NOT COME TO THE COUNTRY, WHERE WOULD WE BE ALL NOW? BAD MEN AND WHISKEY WERE KILLING US SO FAST THAT VERY FEW, INDEED, OF US WOULD HAVE BEEN LEFT TO-DAY. THE POLICE HAVE PROTECTED US AS THE FEATHERS OF THE BIRD PROTECT IT FROM THE FROSTS OF WINTER. I WISH THEM ALL GOOD, AND TRUST THAT ALL OUR HEARTS WILL INCREASE IN GOODNESS FROM THIS TIME FORWARD. I AM SATISFIED. I WILL SIGN THE TREATY.” SHORTLY AFTER TAKING TREATY, MANY CHIEFS BEGAN TO DOUBT THE WISDOM OF THEIR ACTIONS. THE DEATHS OF THREE PROMINENT CHIEFS, THE DESTRUCTION OF EXTENSIVE GRAZING LANDS BY PRAIRIE FIRES, AND THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE BUFFALO WERE CONSIDERED TO BE ILL OMENS. BY SUMMER 1879 HUNTING WAS SO POOR THAT MANY BLACKFEET WERE STARVING AND WERE FORCED TO FOLLOW THE LAST BUFFALO HERDS INTO THE UNITED STATES. CROWFOOT TOOK HIS TRIBE INTO MONTANA WHERE, WITHOUT THE PRESENCE OF THE NWMP, THEY WERE AGAIN SUBJECTED TO THE PROBLEMS OF WHISKY PEDLARS, HORSE THIEVES, AND INTERTRIBAL WARFARE... AS THE BUFFALO HERD WAS DESTROYED, THE BLACKFEET FACED STARVATION, AND IN 1881 HUNGER FORCED THE TRIBE TO RETURN TO CANADA. UPON HIS RETURN CROWFOOT LEARNED THAT THE GOVERNMENT AGENCY RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS PEOPLE HAD CHANGED FROM THE NWMP TO THE NEWLY ESTABLISHED DEPARTMENT OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. OVER THE NEXT MONTHS HE FOUND THE NEW ADMINISTRATORS TO BE CALLOUS IN THEIR TREATMENT OF [FIRST NATIONS PEOPLES]... IN THE FOLLOWING YEAR CROWFOOT AND HIS FOSTER BROTHER NO-OKSKA-STUMIK (THREE BULLS) WERE TAKEN ON A TOUR OF MONTREAL AND QUEBEC BY FATHER LACOMBE IN RECOGNITION OF THEIR LOYALTY. CROWFOOT WAS LIONIZED BY THE PRESS AND PUBLIC, HIS TALL STATELY APPEARANCE AND CLASSIC INDIAN FEATURES FULFILLING EVERYONE’S ROMANTIC IMAGE OF “THE NOBLE INDIAN.” ON HIS RETURN FROM QUEBEC, CROWFOOT STOPPED IN OTTAWA WHERE HE MET MACDONALD AND GAVE HIM THE INDIAN NAME FOR “BROTHER-IN-LAW.” ALTHOUGH CROWFOOT HAD BECOME A NOTABLE CANADIAN FIGURE, HE WAS AN UNHAPPY MAN DURING THE LAST DECADE OF HIS LIFE. HE WAS INCREASINGLY DISILLUSIONED ABOUT THE TREATMENT OF HIS PEOPLE BY GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AND OFFICIALS, HIS OWN HEALTH WAS DETERIORATING, AND HIS PERSONAL LIFE WAS STRUCK BY A SERIES OF TRAGEDIES... ILL AND WITH FAILING EYESIGHT, CROWFOOT REMAINED ON HIS RESERVE DURING THE WINTER OF 1889–90, AND DIED DURING THE SPRING. HIS CHIEFTAINSHIP WAS ASSUMED BY HIS FOSTER BROTHER, THREE BULLS, BUT NEITHER HE NOR SUCCEEDING CHIEFS ACHIEVED THE PRESTIGE OR GREATNESS OF CROWFOOT." FOR HARDCOPY OF CROWFOOT'S BIOGRAPHY, SEE PERMANENT FILE.

Catalogue Number

P19693757000

Acquisition Date

1969-04

Collection

Museum

Less detail