Tips on Ways To Purchase and Shop for Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Numerous visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the nation. Since Inuit art has been getting more and more international direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. Assuming that the objective is to get an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive traveler imitation, the question occurs on how does one inform apart the real thing from the phonies?
It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece just to discover later on that it isn't really genuine 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 wonderful art work, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more mindful elsewhere in Canada, especially in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The best locations to look for Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are always the reliable galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have advertisements in the city tourist guides found in hotels.
Reliable Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted entirely to Inuit art. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and possibly Native art but none of the other typical traveler keepsakes such as t-shirts or postcards . The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all genuine these details pieces are signed.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you could shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now respectable online galleries that also specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some tourist stores do carry genuine 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 should have some weight or mass to it. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and nothing else on the store shelves will look precisely like it.
Where it becomes harder to figure out credibility are with the reproductions that are also made of stone. This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some kind of tag suggesting that it was handcrafted however if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are most likely not genuine. If a seller declares that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the main Igloo tag that features it which will have information on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was sculpted. Move on if the Igloo tag is not available. The genuine pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the greatest priced and are normally kept in a separate ( possibly even locked) rack within the store.
Because Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide exposure, individuals might be seeing this Canadian great art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their terrific artwork, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Respectable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted totally to Inuit art. Kurt Criter 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 also have websites so you might shop and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.