Tips on Ways To Purchase and Buy 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 magnificent handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists living in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in some of the significant Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other tourist locations popular with worldwide visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at various retail stores and showed at some museums. Considering that Inuit art has been getting a growing number of worldwide direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian art form at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for many travelers and art collectors to choose that they would like to buy Inuit sculptures as nice mementos for their houses or as really unique gifts for others. Assuming that the objective is to get an genuine piece of Inuit art instead of a low-cost traveler imitation, the concern arises on how does one tell apart the real thing from the fakes?

It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece just to learn later that it isn't 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 safely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more mindful elsewhere in Canada, specifically in tourist 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 places to purchase Inuit sculptures to make sure authenticity are always the credible galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have advertisements in the city tour guide discovered in hotels.

Reputable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted entirely to Inuit art. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and maybe Native art but none of the other normal traveler mementos such as t-shirts or postcards . The Inuit sculpture 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 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 likewise specialize in authentic Inuit art.

Some traveler shops do bring authentic Inuit art in addition to the other touristy keepsakes in order to accommodate all types Kurt Criter of tourists. When shopping at these types of shops, it is possible to tell apart the genuine pieces from the reproductions. Genuine Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and therefore must have some weight or mass to it. Stone is also cold to the touch. A reproduction 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 sometimes have a business name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never include an artist's signature. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and nothing else on the store shelves will look precisely like it. The piece is not authentic if there are duplicates of a certain piece with precise details. If a piece looks too best in detail with outright straight bottoms or sides, it is most likely not real. Naturally, if a piece includes a sticker label suggesting that is was made in an Asian country, then it is undoubtedly a phony. There will also be a huge price distinction between genuine pieces and the replicas.

Where it becomes harder to determine credibility are with the reproductions that are likewise made of stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some type of tag indicating that it was handcrafted however if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are more than likely not authentic. If a seller declares that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the official Igloo tag that includes it which will know on the artist, location Kurt Criter where it was made and the year it was carved. If the Igloo tag is not available, proceed. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are normally kept in a different (perhaps even locked) shelf within the store.


Given that Inuit art has actually been getting more and more global direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. If one is fortunate enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their terrific art work, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Reputable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Kurt Criter Quarterly publication which is dedicated entirely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture 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 shop and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.

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