Tips on How to Buy and Look For Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Numerous visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the country. These are the splendid handmade sculptures sculpted 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 tourist locations popular with international visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at various retail shops and showed at some museums. Considering that Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of tourists and art collectors to decide that they wish to buy Inuit sculptures as great keepsakes for their houses or as extremely unique presents for others. Presuming that the intention is to acquire an genuine piece of Inuit art instead of a cheap tourist replica, the question emerges on how does one differentiate the genuine thing from the fakes?
It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece only to discover later that it isn't genuine or perhaps made in Canada. 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 securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would need to be more cautious somewhere else in Canada, specifically 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 offered.
The best places to buy Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are constantly the respectable galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have advertisements in the city tour guide found in hotels.
Reputable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted completely to Inuit art. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and maybe Native art but none of the other normal traveler souvenirs such as t-shirts or postcards go to this website . The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all authentic pieces are signed.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you might go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now trustworthy 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 carved from stone and therefore must have some weight or mass to it. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and nothing else on the store shelves will look precisely like it.
This can be a genuine gray location to those unfamiliar with genuine 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 information on the artist, area where it was made and the year it was sculpted. The authentic 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 store.
Since Inuit art has actually been getting more and more international direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art form at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. 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 securely assumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a local northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Reputable Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated totally 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 likewise have websites so you could shop and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.