Tips on How to Buy and Buy Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Numerous visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the country. These are the spectacular handmade sculptures carved 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 tourist locations popular with global visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at different retail shops and showed at some museums. Given that Inuit art has been getting increasingly more international direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art form at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of tourists and art collectors to choose that they wish to acquire Inuit sculptures as nice keepsakes for their homes or as really unique gifts for others. Presuming that the intention is to obtain an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive traveler imitation, the question occurs on how does one differentiate the genuine thing from the fakes?
It would be quite frustrating to bring home a piece just to discover later that it isn't genuine or perhaps made in Canada. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic artwork, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more careful in other places in Canada, specifically in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.
The safest locations to shop for Inuit sculptures to make sure authenticity are constantly the reputable galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have advertisements in the city tourist guides discovered in hotels.
Trusted Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated completely to Inuit art. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and perhaps Native art however none of the other typical traveler mementos such as t-shirts or postcards . The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed.
Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you could go shopping and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now reliable online galleries that likewise specialize in authentic Inuit art. These online galleries are a good choice for purchasing Inuit art since the costs are generally lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Naturally, like other shopping on the internet, one need to take care so when handling an online gallery, make certain that their pieces likewise feature the main Igloo tags to make sure credibility.
Some traveler stores do carry authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy mementos in order to cater to all types of tourists. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and for that reason should 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 precisely like it.
Where it ends up being harder to identify authenticity are with the recreations that are also made of stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those unfamiliar with authentic Inuit art. They do have mass and might 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 declares that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the main Igloo tag that comes with it which will know on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was sculpted. If the Igloo tag is not readily available, move on. The authentic pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are usually kept in a separate ( maybe even locked) rack within the store.
Since Inuit art has been getting more and more international exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful artwork, 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 authentic. Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated completely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in this page English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries also have sites so you might shop and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.