Tips on How to Purchase and Shop for Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the nation. These are the magnificent handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists living in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in a few of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other traveler locations popular with worldwide visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at various retail shops and showed at some museums. Given that Inuit art has been getting increasingly more international direct exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian fine art type at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for numerous tourists and art collectors to choose that they want to buy Inuit sculptures as nice keepsakes for their homes or as extremely special gifts for others. Assuming that the intent is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive tourist replica, the question arises on how does one differentiate the real thing from the fakes?
It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece just to learn later that it isn't genuine or even made in Canada. If one is lucky enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful art work, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more cautious in other places in Canada, particularly in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, essential chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The safest places to purchase Inuit sculptures to make sure authenticity are constantly the reputable galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides discovered in hotels.
Respectable Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted completely to Inuit art. These galleries will normally be found in the downtown traveler areas of significant cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and maybe Native art but none of the other typical traveler keepsakes such as postcards or t-shirts . These galleries will have only authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with replicas or fakes . Simply to be even safer, make certain that the piece you have an interest in features a Canadian federal government Igloo tag licensing that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all authentic pieces are signed. So know that an anonymous piece might still be indeed authentic.
Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you could go shopping and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now trusted online galleries that likewise concentrate on authentic Inuit art. These online galleries are a great choice for purchasing Inuit art considering that the costs are normally lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Of course, like any other shopping on the internet, one must be careful so when dealing with an online gallery, ensure that their pieces also include the main Igloo tags to ensure authenticity.
Some tourist shops do carry authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes in order to cater to all types of travelers. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and therefore needs to have some weight or mass to it. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and absolutely nothing else on the store shelves will look exactly like it.
Where it becomes more this difficult to figure out credibility are with the reproductions that are likewise made of stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some type of tag indicating that it was handmade but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are more than likely not authentic. If a seller declares that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the main Igloo tag that features it which will have information on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was carved. If the Igloo tag is not offered, proceed. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the greatest priced and are generally kept in a different ( maybe even locked) rack within the shop.
Since Inuit art has actually been getting more and more global exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art form at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic art work, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a local northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Reliable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is dedicated totally to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries also have sites so you might go shopping and buy pop over to this site authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.