Tips on How to Buy and Buy Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the country. These are the stunning handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists residing in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in some of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other tourist locations popular with worldwide visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at various retail shops and displayed at some museums. Because Inuit art has actually been getting more and more international direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for numerous tourists and art collectors to decide that they would like to acquire Inuit sculptures as nice keepsakes for their homes or as really distinct gifts for others. Assuming that the intent is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost tourist imitation, the concern occurs on how does one differentiate the genuine thing from the fakes?
It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece only to find out later on that it isn't really authentic and even 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 art work, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more cautious in other places in Canada, specifically in tourist 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 safest locations to look for Inuit sculptures to ensure credibility are always the respectable galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides found in hotels.
Reliable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated completely to Inuit art. 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 normal tourist keepsakes such as postcards or tee shirts . The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all authentic pieces are signed.
A few of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you might shop and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from home throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now trustworthy online galleries that also concentrate on authentic Inuit art. Because of lower overheads, these online galleries are a great choice for purchasing Inuit art since the prices are normally lower than those at street retail galleries. Naturally, like other shopping on the internet, one need to take care so when handling an online gallery, make sure that their pieces likewise come with the main Igloo tags to make sure credibility.
Some tourist stores do bring genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes in order to cater to all types of travelers. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore should have some weight or mass to it. An genuine 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.
This can be a genuine gray location to those unknown 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 information on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was carved. The genuine pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will constantly be the greatest priced and are usually Kurt Criter kept in a separate ( possibly even locked) rack within the shop.
Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more international exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums located 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 bought from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Reputable Inuit art galleries are likewise noted 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 but not all genuine pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries also have sites so you could go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.