Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

PORTRAIT UNTITLED - MALE

Date Range From

1930

Date Range To

1940

Materials

WOOD, MASONITE

No. Pieces

1

Height

37.8

Width

34.4

Description

FRAMED OIL PORTRAIT (BUST) FULL FACE OF MAN IN TRADITIONAL NATIVE REGALIA. SUBJECT UNIDENTIFIED. PAINTED ON MASONITE. SIGNED BOTTOM LEFT: "TWO GUN" WRITTEN ON REVERSE: "BOUGHT FROM TWO GUN BY LAURA GRISEDALE 193?" & "ALSO KNOWN AS PERCY PLAIN WOMAN"

Subjects

INDIGENOUS

ART

Historical Association

FINE ARTS

History

TWO GUN A PEN NAME FOR PERCY PLAIN WOMAN (1895-1961), AN ARTIST FROM KAINAI RESERVE, WELL KNOWN IN LETHBRIDGE & REGION. DONOR SAYS SHE BOUGHT PAINTING FROM HIM WHEN SHE WORKED IN A.N. KESSLER OFFICE. HE DELIVERED IT TO HER HOUSE & WAS ACCOMPANIED BY A YOUNG BOY. DONOR STATES SHE ASKED TWO GUN IF THE BOY WAS HIS SON & WAS HE GOING TO GROW UP TO BE AN ARTIST TOO? TWO GUN APPARENTLY REPLIED THAT HE WOULD NOT BE LIKE HIS FATHER. TWO GUN'S FAVOURED SUBJECTS WERE THOSE THAT DEPICTED NATIVE PEOPLE & NATIVE LIFE. DONOR CAME WITH GRANDPARENTS TO CANADA AT AGE 2.5 IN 1909. SHE WORKED FOR VARIOUS INSURANCE AGENCIES IN TOWN; STARTED WITH C.B. BOWMAN. SHE SAYS TWO GUN FREQUENTLY VISITED BOWMAN'S OFFICE & OTHERS & THAT IS HOW SHE GOT TO KNOW HIM. *UPDATE* IN JUNE 2009, THE GALT WAS CONTACTED BY A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC, LYLE YOUNG, SEEKING BIO INFORMATION ON TWO GUN. YOUNG POSSESSED A TWO GUN OIL AND IT WAS REALIZED BY COLLECTIONS STAFF THAT ITS HUMAN SUBJECT WAS NEAR IDENTICAL TO THE UN-DOCUMENTED SUBJECT FEATURED IN THIS WORK. ON THE REVERSE SIDE OF THE YOUNG’S WORK WAS "MOUNTAIN HORSE KNOWN AS RATTLESNAKE JIM, DIED 1952". HIS WORK WAS ADDTIONALLY DATED BY THE ARTIST TWO GUN AS "1953". OTHER EXAMPLES OF THE SUBJECT HAVE TURNED UP LOCALLY IN LETHBRIDGE AS WELL AS AT AUCTION IN VANCOUVER. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE SEE PERMANENT FILE P19738755000. *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. GIVEN THE SIMILARITY BETWEEN THE UNIDENTIFIED SUBJECT DEPICTED IN THIS PORTRAIT, THE IDENTIFIED "MOUNTAIN HORSE" DEPICTED IN LYLE YOUNG'S PORTRAIT, AND ANOTHER PAINTING OF A NEAR-INDENTICAL SUBJECT IDENTIFIED AS "CHIEF MOUNTAIN HORSE" IN THE ARTIST'S HAND (OFFERED AS A DONATION TO THE MUSEUM IN SUMMER 2014 BY THE PESZAT FAMILY OF LETHBRIDGE), JANE EDMUNDSON CONDUCTED FURTHER RESEARCH INTO CHIEF JIM MOUNTAIN HORSE. A TRIBUTE ARTICLE FROM THE OCTOBER 15, 1937 ISSUE OF THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD PROVIDED THE FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND A PHOTOGRAPH OF CHIEF MOUNTAIN HORSE IN A POSE VERY SIMILAR TO THIS PAINTING AS WELL AS P19738755000-GA, BOTH PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AS DEPICTING UNKNOWN SUBJECTS. JIM MOUNTAIN HORSE WAS BORN C.1857, AS A MEMBER OF THE KAINAI NATION. HE WAS A WARRIOR AND FOUGHT IN THE LAST RECORDED BATTLE BETWEEN THE BLOOD AND CREE FIRST NATIONS ALONG THE OLDMAN (BELLY) RIVER IN THE FALL OF 1872. MOUNTAIN HORSE GREW UP TO BE A MINOR CHIEF OF THE BLOOD TRIBE AND HAD THREE SONS WHO ALL FOUGHT IN WORLD WAR I, INCLUDING THE CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED AUTHOR MIKE MOUNTAIN HORSE. JIM MOUNTAIN HORSE IS PICTURED IN A 1935 PHOTOGRAPH OF THE LETHBRIDGE OLD-TIMER'S ( GALT ARCHIVES 20001076304), AND WHEN HE DIED ON OCTOBER 13, 1937, HIS CASKET WAS DRAPED IN THE UNION JACK AND HIS FUNERAL ATTENDED BY JOHN PUGH, THE KAINAI RESERVE INDIAN AGENT. HE WAS THE LAST LIVING SURVIVOR OF THE OLDMAN RIVER BATTLE. CHIEF JIM MOUNTAIN HORSE IS BURIED ON THE KAINAI RESERVE. 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. FOR HARDCOPY OF JIM MOUNTAIN HORSE TRIBUTE ARTICLE, SEE PERMANENT FILE P19738755000.

Catalogue Number

P19930018001

Acquisition Date

1993-05

Collection

Museum

Less detail