Tips on How to Purchase and Shop for Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures



Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the country. Because Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. Assuming that the intention is to acquire an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost traveler replica, the concern develops on how does one tell apart the real thing from the fakes?

It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece only to find out later that it isn't really genuine or 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 terrific art work, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more cautious elsewhere in Canada, especially in traveler locations where all sorts of other Canadian souvenirs such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.

The safest locations to look for Inuit sculptures to ensure credibility are always the credible galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides discovered in hotels.

Respectable Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted completely to Inuit art. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and possibly Native art but none of the other typical tourist keepsakes such as tee shirts or postcards . The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all authentic pieces are signed.

Some of these Inuit art galleries also have sites so you might 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 likewise focus on genuine Inuit art. Since of lower overheads, these online galleries are a great option for buying Inuit art because the prices are usually lower than those at street retail galleries. Of course, like any other shopping on the internet, one must take care so when dealing with an online gallery, make sure that their pieces likewise feature the main Igloo tags to guarantee authenticity.

Some traveler shops do carry genuine Inuit art in addition to the other touristy souvenirs in order to deal with all kinds of tourists. When shopping at these kinds of stores, it is possible to tell apart the genuine pieces description from the reproductions. Genuine Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore needs to have some weight or mass to it. Stone is also cold to the touch. A recreation made of plastic or resin from a mold will be much lighter in weight and will not be cold to the touch. A reproduction will in some cases have a company 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 artwork and absolutely nothing else on the store racks will look exactly like it. If there are duplicates of a particular piece with precise information, the piece is not authentic. If a piece looks too best in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides, it is most likely not real. Of course, if a piece features a sticker label indicating that is was made in an Asian country, then it is clearly a fake. There will likewise be a substantial price difference in between authentic pieces and the imitations.

Where it ends up being harder to identify credibility are with the recreations that are likewise made from stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those https://www.peekyou.com/kurt_karcher not familiar with authentic Inuit art. They do have mass and might even have some kind of tag showing that it was handmade but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are probably not authentic. If a seller claims that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the official Igloo tag that includes it which will know on the artist, place where it was made and the year it was sculpted. Move on if the Igloo tag is not available. The authentic pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the greatest priced and are usually kept in a different ( maybe even locked) rack within the shop.


Since Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide exposure, individuals might be seeing this Canadian fine art form at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their terrific art work, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trusted Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted totally 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 also have sites so you could go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.

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