Tips on Ways To Buy and Shop for Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Numerous visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the country. These are the spectacular handmade sculptures sculpted 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 traveler locations popular with international visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at different retail shops and showed at some museums. Since Inuit art has actually been getting a growing number of international direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art kind at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of travelers and art collectors to choose that they would like to acquire Inuit sculptures as great souvenirs for their houses or as very distinct presents for others. Assuming that the intention is to get an genuine piece of Inuit art instead of a cheap tourist imitation, the concern arises on how does one tell apart the genuine thing from the fakes?
It would be pretty frustrating to bring home a piece just to learn later on that it isn't really authentic and 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 wonderful art work, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more careful in other places in Canada, specifically in tourist areas where all sorts of other Canadian keepsakes such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.
The best locations to buy Inuit sculptures to make sure credibility are always the trusted galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have advertisements in the city tour guide discovered in hotels.
Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which adheres completely to Inuit art. These galleries will usually be found in the downtown traveler locations of major cities. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and possibly Native art however none of the other normal tourist keepsakes such as tee shirts or postcards . These galleries will have just genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with imitations or phonies . Simply to be even more secure, ensure that the piece you are interested in comes with a Canadian 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 however not all authentic pieces are signed. So be aware that an anonymous piece may still be undoubtedly genuine.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have sites so you could go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now reputable online Kurt Criter galleries that also focus on genuine Inuit art. Since of lower overheads, these online galleries are a great option for purchasing Inuit art because the prices are normally lower than those at street retail galleries. Of course, like other shopping on the internet, one must take care so when dealing with an online gallery, make sure that their pieces also include the main Igloo tags to ensure authenticity.
Some traveler stores do carry genuine Inuit art along with the other touristy keepsakes in order to deal with all kinds of travelers. When shopping at these kinds of stores, it is possible to differentiate the real pieces from the reproductions. Authentic 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 from 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 feature an artist's signature. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and absolutely nothing else on the store shelves will look exactly like it. If there are duplicates of a certain piece with precise information, the piece is not genuine. It is most likely not real if a piece looks too ideal in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides. Naturally, if a piece includes a sticker label showing that is was made in an Asian nation, then it is clearly a phony. There will likewise be a substantial cost difference between genuine pieces and the replicas.
Where it becomes more difficult to identify authenticity are with the reproductions that are also made from stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some kind of tag indicating that it was handcrafted but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are most likely not genuine. 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 carved. If the Igloo tag is not offered, carry on. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the greatest priced and are usually kept in a separate ( possibly even locked) shelf within the shop.
Since Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art form at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful artwork, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Reputable Inuit art galleries are likewise 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 genuine pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have websites so you could shop and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.