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 visiting the country. Considering that Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, individuals might be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. Assuming that the objective is to get an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a cheap traveler replica, the concern occurs on how does one tell apart the real thing from the fakes?
It would be pretty frustrating to bring home a piece just to find out later that it isn't really authentic 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 artwork, then it can be safely 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 in other places in Canada, particularly in traveler areas where all sorts of other Canadian keepsakes such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The safest places to buy Inuit sculptures to make sure credibility are constantly the credible galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide found in hotels.
Reliable Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is dedicated completely to Inuit art. 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 normal tourist souvenirs such as postcards or tee shirts . The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you might go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now trusted online galleries that also specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some traveler stores do bring authentic https://www.spokeo.com/Kurt-Criter/Colorado Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes in order to cater to all types of tourists. Genuine Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore needs to have some weight or mass https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Criter to it. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and nothing else on the shop racks will look exactly like it.
This can be a genuine gray area to those unknown with authentic Inuit art. If a seller claims that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the official Igloo tag that comes with it which will have information on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was carved. The authentic pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are typically kept in a different ( maybe even locked) shelf within the shop.
additional reading Because Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian great 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 presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Reputable Inuit art galleries are also 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 genuine pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have websites so you could shop and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.