Tips on Ways To Buy and Shop for Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the nation. Because Inuit art has been getting more and more international direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art kind at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. Assuming that the intent is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost traveler replica, the concern occurs on how does one inform apart the real thing from the fakes?
It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece only to discover later on that it isn't authentic or perhaps 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 bought from a regional northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would need 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 offered.
The safest places to purchase Inuit sculptures to make sure credibility are constantly the trustworthy galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide found in hotels.
Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which adheres entirely to Inuit art. These galleries will normally be found in the downtown tourist locations of major cities. When one strolls 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 t-shirts or postcards . These galleries will have just genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not handle imitations or fakes . Simply to be even safer, make sure that the piece you have an interest in features a Canadian 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 authentic pieces are signed. Be aware that an anonymous piece might still be certainly genuine.
A few of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you could go shopping and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from house throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now respectable online galleries that also focus on authentic Inuit art. These online galleries are a good alternative for buying Inuit art because the Homepage rates are usually lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Naturally, like any other shopping on the internet, one should be careful so when handling an online gallery, make sure that their pieces likewise include the main Igloo tags to guarantee credibility.
Some traveler stores do bring authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy souvenirs in order to cater to all types of tourists. Genuine Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and for that reason needs to 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 store shelves will look exactly like it.
Where it ends up being more difficult to identify credibility are with the reproductions that are also made from stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those not familiar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some kind of tag indicating that it was handmade but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are most likely not genuine. If a seller claims 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 carved. If the Igloo tag is not available, move on. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are generally kept in a different ( possibly even locked) shelf within the shop.
Because Inuit art has been getting more and more international direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art type at museums and galleries located 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 shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Reputable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted completely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture may be signed content by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have websites so you could shop and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.