Tips on How to Purchase and Look For Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the country. These are the stunning 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 areas popular with worldwide visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at various retail stores and displayed at some museums. Since Inuit art has actually been getting increasingly more worldwide direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian art form at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for numerous travelers and art collectors to decide that they wish to acquire Inuit sculptures as great souvenirs for their houses or as very unique gifts for others. Presuming that the intention is to obtain an authentic piece of Inuit art instead of a cheap traveler replica, the concern occurs on how does one differentiate the genuine thing from the phonies?
It would be pretty frustrating to bring home a piece just to learn later 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 fantastic artwork, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more mindful somewhere else in Canada, specifically in traveler areas where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The most safe locations to buy Inuit sculptures to ensure authenticity are always the trustworthy galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have advertisements in the city tourist guides found in hotels.
Reputable 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 souvenirs such as postcards or t-shirts . 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 also have websites so you might shop and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now respectable online galleries that likewise specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some traveler stores do bring authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy mementos in order to cater to all types of tourists. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and for that reason must have some weight or mass to it. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and nothing else on the shop shelves will look exactly like it.
Where it becomes harder to identify credibility are with the recreations that are likewise made of stone. This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some kind of tag indicating that it was handmade but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are most likely not authentic. If a seller declares that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the official Igloo tag that comes with it which will know on the artist, area where it was made and the year it was carved. Move on if the Igloo tag is not offered. The genuine pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the greatest priced and are normally kept in a different ( maybe even locked) rack within the shop.
Given that Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit Kurt Criter Denver live and make their fantastic artwork, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trusted Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Kurt Criter Denver Art Quarterly publication which is dedicated entirely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all genuine pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you could go shopping and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.