Tips on Ways To Purchase and Purchase Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the country. These are the spectacular handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists residing in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in a few 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 different retail stores and showed at some museums. Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more international 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 lots of tourists and art collectors to choose that they wish to buy Inuit sculptures as great mementos for their houses or as very special presents for others. Assuming that the objective is to acquire an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a cheap traveler replica, the question develops on how does one tell apart the real thing from the fakes?
It would be pretty frustrating to bring home a piece only to find out later that it isn't really genuine or perhaps 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 securely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would need to be more cautious somewhere else in Canada, specifically in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The safest locations to look for Inuit sculptures to ensure credibility are always the trusted galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides found in hotels.
Trusted Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which adheres completely to Inuit art. These galleries will typically be found in the downtown tourist locations of significant cities. When one strolls Kurt Criter Denver into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and perhaps Native art however none of the other normal tourist mementos such as postcards or tee shirts . These galleries will have only authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with fakes or imitations . Simply to be even safer, ensure that the piece you have an interest in comes with a Canadian federal government Igloo tag certifying that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all genuine pieces are signed. So understand that an unsigned piece may still be certainly genuine.
Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you might go shopping and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now reliable online galleries that also specialize in genuine Inuit art.
Some tourist shops do carry authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes in order to cater to all types of tourists. Genuine Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and for that reason should have some weight or mass to it. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and absolutely nothing else on the shop shelves will look precisely like it.
Where it becomes more difficult to determine credibility are with the reproductions that are likewise made from stone. This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some type of tag showing that it was handmade but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are probably not genuine. If a seller declares that such as piece is authentic, 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. If the Igloo tag is not readily available, carry on. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the greatest priced and are typically kept in a different ( possibly even locked) shelf within the shop.
Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more global direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art kind at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. If one is fortunate enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic art work, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a local northern store 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 authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have websites so you could go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.