Tips on The Best Ways To Purchase and Shop for Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Numerous visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the country. These are the spectacular handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists residing in the northern Arctic regions of Canada. While in some of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other traveler areas popular with global visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at different retail shops and showed at some museums. Because Inuit art has actually been getting a growing number of worldwide exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian art type at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of travelers and art collectors to decide that they wish to purchase Inuit sculptures as great keepsakes for their houses or as extremely special presents for others. Assuming that the intent is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a cheap traveler replica, the question develops on how does one differentiate the real thing from the fakes?
It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece only to learn later on that it isn't really authentic or perhaps 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 safely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would need to be more cautious in other places in Canada, particularly in tourist 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 locations to shop for 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 ads in the city tour guide found in hotels.
Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted completely to Inuit art. These galleries will generally be located in the downtown tourist locations of major cities. 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 tourist mementos such as tee shirts or postcards . These galleries will have just genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not handle imitations or fakes . Simply to be even more secure, make sure that the piece you are interested in features a Canadian federal government Igloo tag accrediting that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may 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 might still be indeed genuine.
Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise 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 reliable online galleries that also specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some tourist shops do bring genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy souvenirs in order to cater to all types of travelers. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and for that reason ought to have some weight or mass to it. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and nothing else on the shop shelves will look precisely like it.
This can be a real gray area to those unknown with authentic Inuit art. If a seller declares that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the main Igloo tag that comes with it which will have information on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was carved. The genuine pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will constantly be the greatest priced and are generally kept in a different (perhaps even locked) shelf within the shop.
Since Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian fine art kind at museums and galleries 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 art work, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Respectable Inuit art galleries are also 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 authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you might go shopping and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in check the world.