Tips on The Best Ways To Buy and Look For Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Numerous visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the country. These are the spectacular handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists living 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 tourist areas popular with international visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at numerous retail stores and displayed at some museums. Because Inuit art has been getting more and more global direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian art type at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of tourists and art collectors to decide that they want to buy Inuit sculptures as nice keepsakes for their homes or as very special gifts for others. Presuming that the objective is to acquire an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost tourist replica, the question arises on how does one differentiate the real thing from the phonies?
It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece just to find out later on that it isn't genuine 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 presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more cautious elsewhere in Canada, particularly in traveler areas where all sorts of other Canadian keepsakes such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, essential chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The safest locations to shop for Inuit sculptures to guarantee credibility are always the trustworthy 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.
Reputable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which adheres entirely to Inuit art. These galleries will typically be found in the downtown traveler locations of major cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and perhaps Native art however none of the other normal traveler mementos such as tee shirts or postcards . These galleries will have just authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with imitations or fakes . Simply to be even more secure, make certain that the piece you are interested in includes a Canadian federal government Igloo tag licensing 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 know that an anonymous piece might still be undoubtedly genuine.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have sites so you might go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in read review the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now link respectable online galleries that also specialize in genuine Inuit art.
Some traveler stores do bring genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy mementos 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 authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and absolutely nothing else on the shop shelves will look exactly like it.
This can be a genuine gray area 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 info on the artist, area where it was made and the year it was sculpted. The authentic pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the greatest priced and are normally kept in a separate ( maybe even locked) shelf within the shop.
Considering that Inuit art has been getting more and more international direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art type 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 wonderful art work, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Reputable Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted entirely to Inuit art. 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 might shop and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.