Tips on Ways To Purchase and Look For Authentic 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 living in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in a few of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other tourist locations popular with global visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at different retail shops and showed at some museums. Given that Inuit art has actually been getting increasingly more international direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art form at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of tourists and art collectors to choose that they wish to acquire Inuit sculptures as good keepsakes for their homes or as extremely unique gifts for others. Presuming that the intention is to obtain an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive traveler replica, the question emerges on how does one tell 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 really authentic and 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 securely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more careful elsewhere in Canada, especially in traveler areas where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, essential chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.
The most safe places to look for Inuit sculptures to ensure credibility are constantly the credible galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have advertisements in the city tourist guides discovered in hotels.
Reputable Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated completely to Inuit art. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and maybe Native art however none of the other usual traveler mementos such as postcards or t-shirts . 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 might go shopping and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now trusted online galleries that also specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some tourist stores do carry authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes in order to accommodate all types of travelers. When shopping at these kinds of stores, it is possible to differentiate the real pieces from the reproductions. Genuine Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and for that reason 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 recreation will in some cases have a business name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never 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 exactly like it. If there are duplicates of a certain piece with precise information, the piece is not authentic. It is probably not real if a piece looks too best in information with outright straight bottoms or sides. Obviously, if a piece i thought about this features a sticker label showing that is was made in an Asian nation, then it is certainly a phony. There will likewise be a substantial price difference between authentic pieces and the imitations.
This can be a genuine gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. If a seller declares that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the official Igloo tag that comes with it which will have info on the artist, area 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 generally kept in a different (perhaps even locked) shelf within the store.
Given that Inuit art has actually been getting more and more international exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. 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 acquired from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated totally to Inuit art. 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 sites so you might shop and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.