Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

CHIEF MIKE EAGLE SPEAKER

Date

1965

Materials

WOOD, PAPER

No. Pieces

1

Height

3.0

Length

39.5

Width

29.5

Description

IN A RECTANGULAR WHITE FRAME WITH GOLD TRIM. PAINTING OF A MALE NATIVE, IN ROBE AND HEADDRESS, HOLDING TWO ITEMS. IN THE BACKGROUND IS A TEEPEE. THE BACKGROUND IS OF PRAIRIE GRASS AND BLUE SKY. THE ARTIST HAS SIGNED AND DATED THE PAINTING IN BOTTOM RIGHT HAND CORNER, "CHRIS GIBSON 1965". ON THE BOTTOM OF THE FRAME IS A GOLD PLATE, ENGRAVED WITH "CHIEF MIKE EAGLE SPEAKER". ON THE BACK IS A WIRE FOR HANGING, AND "372" WRITTEN IN BLACK FELT MARKER.

Subjects

ART

Historical Association

FINE ARTS

History

HAD A BROWN PLASTIC TAG STUCK TO THE BACK, EMBOSSED WITH "1987.280" - REMOVED BY CATALOGUER. SEE P19990035001-GA FOR MORE HISTORY. *UPDATE* IN 2014 COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT JANE EDMUNDSON CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF ART OBJECTS. THE FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ON THE ARTIST, CHRISTIAN GIBSON, WAS EXCERPTED FROM HIS LETHBRIDGE HERALD OBITUARY: CHRISTIAN GIBSON WAS BORN IN BELFAST, IRELAND IN 1887 AND EDUCATED IN LONDON, ENGLAND BEFORE ARRIVING IN LETHBRIDGE IN 1908. HE WORKED FOR THE CITY AS ZOO KEEPER AT THE EXHIBITION GROUNDS AND FOR THE ALBERTA RAILROAD AND IRRIGATION COMPANY BEFORE BEGINNING HIS 35 YEAR CAREER WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND COMMERCE IN 1913. GIBSON SERVED WITH THE 25TH BATTERY CANADIAN FIELD ARTILLERY FROM 1908 TO 1914 AND FROM 1914 TO 1919 HE SERVED IN ENGLAND IN FRANCE WITH THE 20TH BATTERY CFA. HE WAS ALSO VERY ACTIVE IN THE COMMUNITY AS A MEMBER OF THE KIWANIS CLUB, ALLIED ARTS COUNCIL, LETHBRIDGE AND DISTRICT HISTORICAL SOCIETY, PLAYGOERS OF LETHBRIDGE, ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION, PEMMICAN CLUB, MASONIC LODGE, AND THE GALT HOSPITAL BOARD. HE AND HIS WIFE LINDA WERE HEAVILY INFLUENTIAL IN THE RED CROSS SOCIETY’S LETHRBIDGE CHAPTER, AND HAD TWO CHILDREN, FRED AND DORIS. CHRISTIAN GIBSON PASSED AWAY ON MARCH 26, 1971. IN 2010 HIS DAUGHTER, DORIS BALCOVSKE, PARTICIPATED IN THE GALT MUSEUM’S FIRST ‘TREASURES & CURIOSITIES’ EXHIBIT BY SELECTING ONE OF HER FATHER’S PAINTINGS TO BE DISPLAYED. SHE SUBMITTED THE FOLLOWING NARRATIVE ABOUT GIBSON’S ASSOCIATION WITH THE GALT AND HIS PAINTING PRACTICE: “MY FATHER… WAS ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE GALT MUSEUM AND HELPED COLLECT MANY OF THE ARTIFACTS. MY FATHER WAS A SELF-TAUGHT ARTIST WITH OILS, WATER COLORS, AND ALSO PEN AND INK… THE FAMILY OWNS MOST OF HIS PAINTINGS.” SEE PERMANENT FILE P19694807000 FOR HARDCOPY OF GIBSON’S OBITUARY. SEE RECORD P19930031001 FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE GIBSON FAMILY. THE FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ON THIS PORTRAIT’S SUBJECT, MIKE EAGLE SPEAKER, WAS DEVELOPED WITH INFORMATION FROM DONALD B. SMITH’S BIOGRAPHY ON SYLVESTER CLARK LONG, AN AMERICAN JOURNALIST WHO INTERVIEWED MIKE EAGLE SPEAKER IN THE 1920S AND CO-OPTED HIS CHILDHOOD STORIES AS THE FRAMEWORK FOR A FALSIFIED, HISTORICALLY INACCURATE, AND WIDELY POPULAR AUTOBIOGRAPHY ENTITLED ‘LONG LANCE’. MIKE EAGLE SPEAKER WAS BORN ON THE BLOOD RESERVE C. 1904 AND ATTENDED ST. PAUL’S MISSION, WHERE HE FIRST MET SYLVESTER LONG IN 1920. EAGLE SPEAKER WAS RAISED BY HIS GREAT-GRANDMOTHER AFTER THE DEATH OF HIS MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER, AND SHE TAUGHT HIM AND HIS BROTHERS ABOUT TRADITIONAL BLOOD CEREMONIES AND CULTURE. HIS FATHER, ALSO CALLED EAGLE SPEAKER, HAD TRAINED UNDER SOME OF THE BEST-KNOWN MEDICINE MEN IN THE BLACKFOOT CONFEDERACY, AND PASSED ALONG STORIES AND KNOWLEDGE TO HIS SON. MIKE EAGLE SPEAKER LEFT THE RESERVE TO STUDY AT CLARESHOLM AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE IN 1922. BEFORE ‘LONG LANCE’ WAS COMPLETED AND PUBLISHED IN 1928, EAGLE SPEAKER MET WITH SYLVESTER LONG NUMEROUS TIMES TO DESCRIBE HIS CHILDHOOD AND HIS KNOWLEDGE OF BLOOD TRIBE CULTURE. DONALD B. SMITH WRITES THAT LONG “MAKES MIKE EAGLE SPEAKER’S CHILDHOOD HIS OWN, PUSHING IT BACK INTO THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND GRAFTING ONTO IT STORIES THAT HE HAD COLLECTED FROM THE OLD PLAINS INDIANS. HE DID A SKILLFUL JOB OF IT… MIKE EAGLE SPEAKER’S FINEST REMINISCENCES ARE SCATTERED IN THE BOOK LIKE RAISINS IN THE DOUGH, ALL CAREFULLY SELECTED BY A GIFTED JOURNALIST WHO KNEW HOW TO USE ANECDOTES.” SMITH’S RESEARCH DOES NOT DETAIL A CONTINUED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EAGLE SPEAKER AND LONG AFTER THE PUBLICATION OF ‘LONG LANCE’, BUT VARIOUS ARTICLES FROM THE LETHBRIGE HERALD DEMONSTRATE THAT HE WENT ON TO BE DESIGNATED AS A CHIEF AND THAT HE AND HIS FAMILY WERE IMPORTANT MEMBERS OF THE SOUTHERN ALBERTA COMMUNITY. IN DECEMBER 1955 EAGLE SPEAKER, HIS WIFE KATHLEEN AND DAUGHTER EVELYN WERE GIVEN HONOURARY LIFE MEMBERSHIPS BY THE OLDTIMERS PEMMICAN CLUB, AND HE REGULARLY REPRESENTED THE BLOOD TRIBE AS A DIGNITARY AT LOCAL EVENTS. A LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLE FROM DECEMBER 11, 1947 WRITTEN BY EAGLE SPEAKER OUTLINES HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH THE ARTIST TWO GUN, AND EXPLAINS THE PROCESS OF A TRADITIONAL BUFFALO HUNT. NO DATE OF DEATH FOR MIKE EAGLE SPEAKER WAS FOUND. SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR HARDCOPIES OF NEWSPAPER ARTICLES AND RELEVANT EXCERPTS FROM DONALD B. SMITH’S BOOK.

Catalogue Number

P19990035164

Acquisition Date

2000-07

Collection

Museum

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