Tips on How to Buy and Shop for Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the nation. These are the splendid handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists living in the northern Arctic regions of Canada. While in a few of the significant Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other tourist areas popular with global visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at numerous retail stores and displayed at some museums. Because Inuit art has actually been getting increasingly more worldwide direct exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian art form 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 would like to purchase Inuit sculptures as nice keepsakes for their homes or as very special gifts for others. Assuming that the intent is to acquire an authentic piece of Inuit art instead of a low-cost traveler replica, the concern arises on how does one tell apart the genuine thing from the fakes?
It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece just to find out later on that it isn't really genuine or perhaps made in Canada. If one is fortunate enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic artwork, then it can be safely assumed 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 careful elsewhere in Canada, particularly in tourist areas where all sorts of other Canadian souvenirs such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.
The best places to look for Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are always the reputable galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides discovered in hotels.
Reputable Inuit art galleries are likewise 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 major cities. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and maybe Native art but none of the other normal tourist keepsakes such as t-shirts or postcards . These galleries will have just genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not handle replicas or phonies . Simply to be even more secure, make certain that the piece you have an interest in comes with a Canadian federal government Igloo tag accrediting that it was handmade 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. Be aware that an anonymous piece might still be indeed authentic.
Kurt Criter Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you could shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from home throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now trustworthy online galleries that also concentrate on authentic Inuit art. Since of lower overheads, these online galleries are a excellent option for purchasing Inuit art given that the prices are normally lower than those at street retail galleries. Of course, like other shopping on the internet, one should be careful so when my latest blog post dealing with an online gallery, make certain that their pieces likewise include the main Igloo tags to ensure credibility.
Some tourist shops do bring genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes in order to cater to all types of tourists. Genuine Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and therefore needs to have some weight or mass to it. An authentic 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 becomes harder to determine credibility are with the recreations that are likewise made of stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those not familiar with authentic Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some kind of tag showing that it was handcrafted but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable 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 know 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 authorities Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are usually kept in a different (perhaps even locked) rack within the shop.
Given that Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art form at museums and galleries situated read outside Canada too. 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 safely 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 likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted completely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture might 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 shop and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.