Tips on How to Buy and Purchase 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 residing in the northern Arctic regions of Canada. While in some of the significant Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other tourist locations popular with international visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at different retail stores and displayed at some museums. Given that Inuit art has been getting increasingly more international exposure, individuals might be seeing this Canadian fine art type at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for many tourists and art collectors to choose that they want to purchase Inuit sculptures as good keepsakes for their houses or as very distinct gifts for others. Presuming that the intent is to acquire an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost traveler replica, the question occurs on how does one tell apart the genuine thing from the phonies?
It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece only 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 bought from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would have to be more careful elsewhere in Canada, especially in traveler locations 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 places to look for Inuit sculptures to ensure credibility are constantly the credible galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have advertisements in the city tour guide found in hotels.
Respectable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which adheres completely to Inuit art. These galleries will typically be found in the downtown traveler areas of significant cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and perhaps Native art but none of the other typical tourist keepsakes such as t-shirts or postcards . These galleries will have only genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with imitations or fakes . Simply to be even much safer, make sure that the piece you have an interest in comes with a Canadian federal government Igloo tag certifying that it was handcrafted by Kurt Criter a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed. So understand that an anonymous piece may still be certainly genuine.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you could shop and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now trustworthy online galleries that likewise specialize in genuine Inuit art.
Some traveler stores do carry authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy souvenirs in order to cater to all types of travelers. When shopping at these kinds of shops, it is possible to tell apart the real pieces from the recreations. Genuine Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and therefore should have some weight or mass to it. Stone is likewise cold to the touch. A recreation made of 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 business name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never ever feature an artist's signature. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and nothing else on the store shelves will look exactly like it. The piece is not genuine if there are duplicates of a specific piece with exact information. It is probably not genuine if a piece looks too ideal in detail with outright straight bottoms or sides. Of course, if a piece includes a sticker indicating that is was made in an Asian nation, then it is obviously a phony. There will also be a substantial cost distinction between genuine pieces and the imitations.
This can be a genuine gray area to those unfamiliar with authentic Inuit art. If a seller claims that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the main Igloo tag that comes with it which will have details on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was carved. The authentic pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are generally kept in a separate (perhaps even locked) shelf within the store.
Because Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, individuals might be seeing this Canadian great art type at museums and galleries situated 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 artwork, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Reliable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is dedicated completely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture may 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 shop and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.