Tips on How to Purchase and Shop for Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the nation. These are the splendid handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists living in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in some of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other traveler areas popular with worldwide visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at numerous retail shops and showed at some museums. Considering that Inuit art has actually been getting a growing number of international exposure, individuals might be seeing this Canadian fine art form at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for many tourists and art collectors to decide that they want to acquire Inuit sculptures as nice mementos for their houses or as really distinct gifts for others. Presuming that the intent is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art instead of a low-cost traveler replica, the question occurs on how does one tell apart the real thing from the fakes?
It would be quite frustrating to bring home a piece only to learn later on that it isn't really authentic and even made in Canada. 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 safely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more careful elsewhere in Canada, particularly in tourist areas where all sorts of other Canadian keepsakes such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.
The best places to look for Inuit sculptures to ensure credibility are always the respectable galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide found in hotels.
Reputable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is dedicated completely to Inuit art. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and maybe Native art however none of the other typical traveler souvenirs such as t-shirts or postcards . The Inuit sculpture might 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 sites so you could go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now credible online galleries that likewise specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some traveler shops do bring authentic Inuit find more art as well as the other touristy mementos in order to cater to all types of tourists. Genuine Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and therefore must have some weight or mass to it. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and nothing else on the store shelves will look precisely like it.
This can be a genuine gray area to those unknown with genuine Inuit art. If a seller claims that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the official Igloo tag that comes with it which will have info on the artist, area where it was made and the year it was sculpted. The genuine pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will constantly be the greatest priced and are generally kept in a different ( possibly even locked) rack within the store.
Because Inuit art has actually been getting more and more international exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be traveling 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 regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Reputable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted completely 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 go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.