Tips on Ways To Buy and Buy Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the nation. These are the spectacular handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists living 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 locations popular with worldwide visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at numerous retail shops and showed at some museums. Since Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian fine art kind at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of tourists and art collectors to choose that they would like to buy Inuit sculptures as good souvenirs for their homes or as really special gifts for others. Assuming that the objective is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost tourist imitation, the question emerges on how does one tell apart the genuine thing from the phonies?
It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece just to learn later on that it isn't authentic and 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 terrific artwork, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would have to be more cautious somewhere else in Canada, particularly in traveler areas where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The safest places to buy Inuit sculptures to make sure authenticity are always the reputable galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have advertisements in the city tourist guides found in hotels.
Respectable Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated totally to Inuit art. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and maybe Native art however none of the other normal traveler souvenirs such as postcards or t-shirts . 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 sites so you could go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now trustworthy online galleries that also specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some tourist shops do carry authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy souvenirs in order to cater to all types of travelers. When shopping at these kinds of shops, it is possible to differentiate the real pieces from the reproductions. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore must 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 sometimes have a company 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 artwork and nothing else on the shop shelves will look precisely like it. If published here there are duplicates of a specific piece with specific details, the piece is not genuine. If a piece looks too best in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides, it is probably not real. Naturally, if a piece includes a sticker suggesting that is was made in an Asian nation, then it is undoubtedly a phony. There will also be a huge cost difference in between genuine pieces and the replicas.
This can be a genuine gray location to those unfamiliar with authentic Inuit art. If a seller declares that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the official 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 authentic pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are normally kept in a separate ( possibly even locked) rack within the shop.
Because Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine 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 artwork, 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. Reputable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is dedicated 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 might shop and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.