Tips on Ways To Buy and Shop for Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Numerous visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the country. Because Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian great art form at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. Assuming that the objective is to acquire an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost tourist replica, the question emerges on how does one inform apart the real thing from the fakes?
It would be pretty frustrating to bring home a piece just to discover later that it isn't really 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 art work, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would have to be more cautious elsewhere in Canada, particularly in traveler areas where all sorts of other Canadian souvenirs such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.
The safest places to buy Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are always the reliable galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides discovered in hotels.
Reliable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which adheres completely to Inuit art. These galleries will normally be located in the downtown traveler areas of major cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and maybe Native art however none of the other typical tourist mementos such as postcards or t-shirts . These galleries will have only genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with phonies or imitations . Simply to be even more secure, make sure that the piece you are interested in comes with a Canadian government Igloo tag accrediting that it was handmade by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all authentic pieces are signed. So understand that an unsigned piece might still be undoubtedly genuine.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you might shop and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now respectable see this site online galleries that likewise specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some traveler stores do carry authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes in order to cater to all types of tourists. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore needs to 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 shop racks will look precisely like it.
Where it ends up being harder to figure out credibility are with the reproductions that are also made from stone. This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with authentic Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some kind of tag suggesting that it was handcrafted but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are more than likely not authentic. If a seller declares that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the main Igloo tag that includes it which will know on the artist, place where it was made and the year it was sculpted. If the Igloo tag is not available, carry on. The authentic pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are normally kept in a separate ( possibly even locked) rack within the shop.
Because Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art type at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic art work, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Reputable Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted totally 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 websites so you could shop and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.