Tips on How to Buy and Look For Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the country. These are the magnificent handmade sculptures sculpted 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 areas popular with worldwide visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at different retail shops and displayed at some museums. Given that Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for numerous travelers and art collectors to choose that they would like to acquire Inuit sculptures as good keepsakes for their homes or as extremely special gifts for others. Assuming that the intention is to get an genuine piece of Inuit art instead of a low-cost tourist imitation, the question occurs on how does one differentiate the real thing from the fakes?
It would be quite frustrating to bring home a piece only to discover later that it isn't authentic 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 wonderful art work, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would need 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 offered.
The best places to buy Inuit sculptures to ensure authenticity are always the reliable galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have advertisements in the city tourist guides found in hotels.
Reputable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is dedicated completely to Inuit art. 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 usual traveler souvenirs such as t-shirts or postcards . The Inuit sculpture Kurt Criter might 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 websites so you could go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now trusted online galleries that likewise specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some tourist stores do bring authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes in order to cater to all types of travelers. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and for that reason needs to have some weight or mass to it. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and absolutely nothing else on the shop shelves will look exactly like it.
This can be a genuine gray location to those unknown with genuine Inuit art. If a seller declares that such as piece is genuine, ask to go to this site see the main Igloo tag that comes with it which will have details on the artist, place where it was made and the year it was carved. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are typically kept in a separate ( possibly even locked) rack within the store.
Considering that Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian great art kind 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 art work, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a local northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Reputable Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted entirely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics Kurt Criter Denver however not all genuine pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have websites so you might shop and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.