Tips on How to Buy and Purchase Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the country. These are the stunning handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists residing 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 international visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at different retail shops and showed at some museums. Since Inuit art has been getting more and more global direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian art kind 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 good mementos for their houses or as really unique presents for others. Presuming that the intent is to obtain an genuine piece of Inuit art instead of a inexpensive traveler imitation, the question develops on how does one differentiate the real thing from the fakes?
It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece only to learn later that it isn't authentic and even made in Canada. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their terrific art work, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more mindful in other places in Canada, especially in traveler areas where all sorts of other Canadian souvenirs such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.
The best places to purchase Inuit sculptures to make sure authenticity are constantly the respectable galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides found in hotels.
Respectable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which adheres entirely to Inuit art. These galleries will generally be located in the downtown traveler areas of major cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and maybe Native art however none of the other typical traveler mementos such as postcards or t-shirts . These galleries will have just authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with imitations or fakes . Just to be even safer, make sure that the piece you have an interest in includes a Canadian federal 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 mindful that an anonymous piece might still be certainly authentic.
Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have websites so you could go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from home throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now respectable online galleries that likewise specialize in authentic Inuit art. These online galleries are a good choice for purchasing Inuit art because the costs are usually lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Obviously, like other shopping on the internet, one should beware so when dealing with an online gallery, make sure that their pieces likewise feature the official Igloo tags to make sure credibility.
Some traveler shops do bring authentic Inuit art along with the other touristy souvenirs in order to deal with all types of travelers. When shopping at these types of stores, it is possible to differentiate the real pieces from the recreations. Genuine Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and for that reason should have some weight or mass to it. Stone is also cold to the touch. A recreation 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 business name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never feature an artist's signature. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and nothing else on the shop shelves will look precisely like it. If there are duplicates of a specific piece with precise information, the piece is not authentic. If a piece looks too best in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides, it is probably not real. Of course, if a piece features a sticker label suggesting that is was made in an Asian country, then it is obviously a phony. There will also be a big rate difference between genuine pieces and the imitations.
Where it ends up being more difficult to figure out authenticity are with the recreations that are also made from stone. This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with authentic Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some type of tag suggesting that it was handcrafted however if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are most likely not authentic. If a seller claims that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the official Igloo tag that features it which will know on the artist, area where it was made and the year it was sculpted. If the Igloo tag is not available, move on. The authentic pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are normally kept in a separate (perhaps even locked) shelf within the store.
Since Inuit art has actually been getting more and more international direct exposure, individuals might be seeing this Canadian great art type at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful art work, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated entirely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either https://myspace.com/kurtcriter 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 genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.