Tips on Ways To Purchase and Buy Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the country. These are the stunning handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists residing in the northern Arctic regions of Canada. While in some of the significant 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 different retail shops and displayed at some museums. Because Inuit art has been getting more and more international direct exposure, individuals might be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for many travelers and art collectors to decide that they would like to purchase Inuit sculptures as great mementos for their homes or as really special gifts for others. Assuming that the intent is to obtain an authentic piece of Inuit art instead of a inexpensive tourist replica, the question occurs on how does one differentiate the genuine thing from the phonies?
It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece just to discover later on that it isn't 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 fantastic art work, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more careful in other places in Canada, especially in traveler locations where all sorts of other Canadian souvenirs such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.
The safest locations to buy Inuit sculptures to ensure authenticity are constantly the respectable galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have advertisements in the city tourist guides found in hotels.
Reputable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted completely to Inuit art. These galleries will generally be found in the downtown traveler locations of major cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and maybe Native art but none of the other usual tourist mementos such as t-shirts or postcards . These galleries will have only authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with imitations or fakes . Simply to be even safer, make sure that the piece you are interested in comes with a Canadian government Igloo tag certifying that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed. Be mindful that an anonymous piece might still be certainly authentic.
Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have websites so you might shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now reputable online galleries that also specialize in genuine Inuit art.
Some traveler shops do carry genuine Inuit art in addition to the other touristy souvenirs in order to accommodate all kinds of tourists. When shopping at these types of stores, it is possible to differentiate the genuine pieces from the recreations. Genuine Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and therefore must have some weight or mass to it. Stone is likewise 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 business name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never ever include an artist's signature. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and absolutely nothing else on the store racks will look precisely like it. The piece is not authentic if there are duplicates of a particular piece with specific information. It is probably not real if a piece looks too perfect in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides. Obviously, if a piece features a sticker suggesting that is was made in an Asian country, then it is obviously a fake. There will also be a huge price distinction in between genuine pieces and the replicas.
This can be a real gray location to those unfamiliar with genuine 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 details on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was sculpted. The authentic pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the greatest priced and are usually kept in a different (perhaps even locked) rack within the shop.
Considering that Inuit art has been getting more and more international direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian great art form at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. If one is fortunate enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic https://medium.com/@kurtcriter where the Inuit live and make their fantastic art work, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trusted Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated entirely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture might 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 could go shopping and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.