Tips on Ways To Buy and Buy 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 splendid handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists residing in the northern Arctic regions of Canada. While in a few 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 showed at some museums. Because Inuit art has actually been getting increasingly more international direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art type at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for many travelers and art collectors to choose that they would like to acquire Inuit sculptures as nice mementos for their houses or as very distinct gifts for others. Assuming that the objective is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive traveler imitation, the question occurs on how does one differentiate the real thing from the phonies?
It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece just to discover later that it isn't authentic 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 safely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would have to be more careful somewhere else in Canada, specifically 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 sold.
The safest places to look for Inuit sculptures to ensure authenticity are constantly the credible galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide found in hotels.
Credible Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated entirely to Inuit art. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and possibly Native art but none of the other typical traveler mementos such as postcards or tee shirts . The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all genuine pieces are signed.
A few of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you might go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now respectable online galleries that also focus on authentic Inuit art. These online galleries are a excellent choice for buying Inuit art given that the costs are generally lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Of course, like any other shopping on the internet, one must beware so when dealing with an online gallery, make sure that their pieces also feature the official Igloo tags to make sure credibility.
Some traveler stores 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 ought to have some weight or mass to it. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and absolutely nothing else on the shop shelves will look exactly like it.
Where it ends up being harder to determine authenticity are with the recreations that are also made from stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those unfamiliar with authentic Inuit art. They do have mass and might even have some kind of tag showing that it was handcrafted but 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 main Igloo tag that features it which will have information on the artist, place where it was made and the year it was carved. If the Igloo tag is not offered, proceed. The genuine pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are normally kept in a different (perhaps even locked) shelf within the store.
Because Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine 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 securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Credible Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated completely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture might be Kurt Criter 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 might shop and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.