Tips on How to Buy and Shop for Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the country. Since Inuit art has been getting more and more international exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art type at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. Assuming that the objective is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a cheap tourist imitation, the concern occurs on how does one inform apart the genuine thing from the phonies?
It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece only to find out later on that it isn't genuine or even made in Canada. 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 securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more careful elsewhere in Canada, especially 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 sold.
The most safe places to purchase Inuit sculptures to make sure credibility are constantly the trustworthy galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides found in hotels.
Reputable Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which adheres completely to Inuit art. These galleries will usually be found in the downtown tourist areas of major cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and perhaps Native art but none of the other normal tourist souvenirs such as t-shirts or postcards . These galleries will have only authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with phonies or imitations . Just to be even much safer, make sure that the piece you are interested in features a Canadian federal government Igloo tag licensing that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all genuine pieces are signed. So understand that an unsigned 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 house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now respectable online galleries that also specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some traveler stores do carry authentic Inuit art in addition to the other touristy mementos in order to deal with all types of travelers. When shopping at these kinds of stores, it is possible to tell apart the real pieces from the recreations. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and therefore ought to have some weight or mass to it. Stone is also cold to the touch. A reproduction made of plastic or resin from a mold will be much lighter in weight and will not be cold to the touch. A recreation will often have a business name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never ever feature an artist's signature. An genuine 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. If there are duplicates of a particular piece with precise details, the piece is not genuine. If a piece looks too perfect in detail with outright straight bottoms or sides, it is probably not real. Of course, if a piece includes a sticker label showing that is was made in an Asian country, then it is clearly a phony. There will likewise be a substantial rate difference between authentic pieces and the imitations.
This can be a genuine gray location 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, place where it was made and the year it was carved. The authentic pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are usually kept in a separate ( maybe even locked) shelf within the shop.
Because Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art type at museums and galleries situated 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 safely presumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a regional northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Credible Inuit art galleries are site also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication 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 genuine pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have websites so you might go shopping and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.