Tips on How to Purchase and Buy Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the nation. These are the stunning 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 traveler areas popular with global visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at various retail stores and showed at some museums. Given that Inuit art has been getting a growing number of international direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian art type at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of travelers and art collectors to choose that they want to purchase Inuit sculptures as good keepsakes for their houses or as extremely special gifts for others. Presuming that the objective is to acquire an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost tourist replica, the question develops on how does one differentiate the real thing from the phonies?
It would be quite frustrating to bring home a piece just to discover later that it isn't authentic 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 artwork, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would need to be more careful in other places in Canada, particularly in traveler 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 offered.
The safest places to buy Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are constantly the reliable galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide found in hotels.
Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted completely to Inuit art. These galleries will typically be found in the downtown tourist areas of major 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 usual traveler souvenirs such as postcards or t-shirts . These galleries will have only authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with imitations or phonies . Just to be even much safer, ensure that the piece you have an interest in features a Canadian government Igloo tag accrediting that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all authentic pieces are signed. Be aware that an unsigned piece might still be undoubtedly genuine.
A few of these Inuit art galleries also have sites so you might go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from house throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now trustworthy online galleries that also specialize in genuine Inuit art. These online galleries are a excellent choice for buying Inuit art considering that the prices are normally lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Naturally, like any other shopping on the internet, one must be careful so when handling an online gallery, make sure that their pieces likewise include the official Igloo tags to ensure credibility.
Some traveler shops do carry genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy mementos in order to accommodate all kinds of tourists. When shopping at these kinds of stores, it is possible to differentiate the real pieces from the reproductions. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and for that reason must have some weight or mass to it. Stone is also cold to the touch. A reproduction made from plastic or resin from a mold will be much lighter in weight and will not be cold to the touch. A reproduction will sometimes have a company name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never ever feature an artist's signature. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and absolutely nothing else on the shop shelves will look precisely like it. If there are duplicates of a particular piece with exact details, the piece is not authentic. It is probably not real if a piece looks too ideal in detail with outright straight bottoms or sides. Of course, if a piece includes a sticker suggesting that is was made in an Asian nation, then it is obviously a phony. There will likewise be a big price distinction between authentic pieces and the replicas.
Where it ends up being more difficult to figure out authenticity are with the reproductions that are likewise made of stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those not familiar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some type of tag showing that it was handcrafted however if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are most likely not genuine. If a seller claims that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the main Igloo tag that includes it which will have information on the artist, place where it was made and the year it was carved. If the Igloo tag is not readily available, move on. 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 shop.
Since Inuit art has 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 wonderful art work, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern store Kurt Criter or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Trusted Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit 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 sites so you could go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.