Tips on How to Buy and Shop for Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the country. These are the splendid handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists living in the northern Arctic regions of Canada. While in some of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other tourist locations popular with worldwide visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at numerous retail shops and showed at some museums. Because Inuit art has actually been getting more and more global exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for many travelers and art collectors to choose that they would like to buy Inuit sculptures as great keepsakes for their houses or as extremely unique gifts for others. Assuming that the intention is to obtain an genuine piece of Inuit art instead of a cheap tourist replica, the question occurs on how does one tell apart the real thing from the fakes?
It would be quite frustrating to bring home a piece just to learn later on that it isn't genuine or perhaps 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 presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would need to be more mindful elsewhere in Canada, especially in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian keepsakes such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, essential chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.
The safest places to purchase Inuit sculptures to make sure credibility are constantly the respectable galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide found in hotels.
Trusted Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted completely to Inuit art. These galleries will typically be found in the downtown tourist areas of significant cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and maybe Native art however none of the other normal traveler mementos such as postcards or tee shirts . These galleries will have only authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with imitations or fakes . Just to be even safer, make sure that the piece you are interested in comes with a Canadian federal government Igloo tag licensing that it was handmade by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all authentic pieces are signed. Be conscious that an unsigned piece may still be indeed authentic.
Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you could shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now reliable online galleries that also specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some tourist stores do carry authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy YOURURL.com keepsakes in order to cater to all types of travelers. Genuine Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and for that reason ought to have some weight or mass to it. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and nothing else on the store shelves will look precisely like it.
Where it becomes more difficult to figure out credibility are with the reproductions that are likewise made of stone. This can be a real gray area to those not familiar with authentic Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some type of tag indicating that it was handcrafted but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are probably not authentic. If a seller claims that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the main Igloo tag that comes with it which will have information on the artist, place where it was made and the year it was sculpted. Move on if the Igloo tag is not readily available. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are typically kept in a separate ( possibly even locked) rack within the store.
Given that Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art kind at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. If one is fortunate enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic art work, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a regional northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted completely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you might go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.