Tips on How to Buy and Purchase Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Numerous visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the nation. These are the spectacular handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists residing in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in some of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other traveler locations popular with global visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at various retail stores and showed at some museums. Since Inuit art has actually been getting more and more global direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art type at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of tourists and art collectors to decide that they would like to purchase Inuit sculptures as nice souvenirs for their houses or as very unique presents for others. Assuming that the objective is to acquire an authentic piece of Inuit art instead of a low-cost traveler imitation, the concern arises on how does one tell apart the real thing from the phonies?
It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece just to discover later on that it isn't really authentic or even made in Canada. If one is lucky enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful artwork, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more cautious elsewhere in Canada, especially 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 most safe places to look for Inuit sculptures to ensure credibility are always the trusted galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have advertisements in the city tourist guides found in hotels.
Credible Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted completely to Inuit art. These galleries will generally be found in the downtown tourist areas of significant 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 usual tourist souvenirs such as tee shirts or postcards . These galleries will have just authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with phonies or imitations . Simply to be even much safer, make certain that the piece you have an interest in includes a Canadian federal government Igloo tag licensing that it was handmade by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all authentic pieces are signed. Be mindful that an unsigned piece might still be certainly genuine.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you might go shopping and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now respectable online galleries that also specialize in genuine Inuit art.
Some tourist stores do carry genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy souvenirs in order to cater to all types of travelers. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and for that reason must have some weight or mass to it. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and nothing else on the store racks will look precisely like it.
This can be a genuine gray area to those unknown with authentic Inuit art. If a seller declares that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the main Igloo tag that comes with it which will have information on the artist, place where it was made and the year it was carved. The authentic pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are typically kept in a different ( maybe even locked) shelf within the shop.
Considering that Inuit art has been getting more and more global exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian great art form at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to other be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful artwork, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Trusted Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted completely 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 sites so you could go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.