Swiss museum exhibit features 1820s Métis saddle alongside modern beaded items

A Métis saddle from the early 1800s is at the centre of an exhibit that opened last month at a Swiss museum, along with contemporary beadwork created by other Red River Métis artists. 

Earlier this year, David Heinrichs visited the saddle at the Cantonal Museum of Archaeology and History in Lausanne, Switzerland, when he was delivering the piece he made for the exhibit, called Autobiography of a Métis saddle.

"When we walked into the room where [the saddle] was, I got chills in a way that I wasn't expecting," said Heinrichs. 

"It wasn't until that evening when I was back at the hotel that I was kind of reflecting on why I was more emotional than I normally am, and I realized … [the saddle] was so far from home. It's been potentially 200 years since a Métis person has interacted with that piece and seen it." 

How the saddle made its way to Switzerland is unknown but it is believed to have been given or sold to a Swiss settler in the Red River settlement in the early 1800s. 

At that time Europeans were being recruited to move to the settlement.

"The Earl of Selkirk had an agent working for him recruiting Swiss settlers who I must say … had no idea what they were getting into," said Sherry Farrell–Racette, a Métis art specialist from the University of Regina who worked on the exhibit.

Swiss settlers landed in York Factory, Man. in the early 1820s, and in a few years most of them had left, mostly travelling south to the United States. 

"[The saddle] was collected in 1820, so it's really old … there's a lot of wool fabric on it, and the moths had kind of a heyday," said Farrell–Racette. 

The saddle is one of the oldest examples of a Métis pad saddle and it's likely the best preserved. 

"There's actually only three of them that I'm aware of that are in that particular style, and it's really exciting because it has … so much provenance," said Farrell–Racette. 

She said the others are in museums in St. Louis, Mo., and New York. 

What makes this saddle unique is the materials used and the design. 

"The early First Nations saddles tended to be chunks of buffalo hide … and [they] also had larger saddles that were made out of wood that were quite structural," said Farrell–Racette.

But this style of pad saddle, she says, was uniquely Métis — until it came into popularity in the 1850s. 

Farrell–Racette said the beadwork design was influenced by First Nations beaders living near the settlement. 

"Most of the motifs were geometric, very influenced from the Cree grandmothers that came down from the Bay and settled in the Red River settlement," said Farrell–Racette. 

"Most of the saddles — and there's an abundance of them — are quill work rosettes, but these ones are cloth rosettes."

Before floral designs

Today, Métis beadwork is known for its distinctive floral patterns but the saddle in Switzerland shows that it wasn't always that way. 

"[The saddle is] such an early example of our beadwork that it's kind of like before our beadwork became really floral," said Heinrichs. 

The saddle has four red and black rosettes on it and attached to them is a red and black diamond. 

He said over time patterns morphed into the florals now synonymous with Métis beadwork.

"You can see how eventually that rosette starts to turn into a flower and that diamond shape starts to become a leaf," said Heinrichs. 

He said a pillow on display at the Seven Oaks House Museum in Winnipeg shows transformation in Métis floral designs, and was his inspiration for what he created for the exhibit. 

"Seeing that flower and how it kind of moved along and transformed, I included [it]  in a wall pocket with some of the other flowers and leaves inspired by that pillow," said Heinrichs. 

He said a wall pocket is exactly as it sounds.

"It's just a little pocket … that could then be hung on a wall," said Heinrichs. 

Modern spins 

When Farrell–Racette reached out to Manitoba beaders to contribute to the exhibit, she wanted modern pieces that drew inspiration from the saddle. 

"[The pieces] really are in dialogue with the saddle and they're very much contemporary Red River Métis folks," said Farrell–Racette.

Winnipeg artist Jennine Krauchi, known for making elaborate three dimensional beaded artwork, created a purse. 

"It was as if you took that saddle and kind of folded it into a little purse and put a little handle on it," said Farrell–Racette.

Other artists, Farrell–Racette said, took a more cheeky approach to their designs. 

"Vi Houssin decided to have fun, so she took one look at the saddle and these circles with fringe coming out, and she just went 'pasties,'" said Farrell–Racette. 

"So I'm like, well, they're going to find out all about Métis humour." 

Heinrichs said when he and Farrell–Racette got to lay all the new beadwork next to the saddle, it was a special moment that bridged Métis beadwork created centuries apart. 

"To lay them out together … not behind glass or anything like that, just kind of have them visiting," said Heinrichs.

The exhibit runs until April 13, 2025.