Tips on Ways To Purchase and Look For Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the country. These are the splendid handmade sculptures carved 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 tourist areas popular with worldwide visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at various retail stores and displayed at some museums. Because Inuit art has actually been getting increasingly more international exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian art form 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 wish to purchase Inuit sculptures as good keepsakes for their houses or as really distinct presents for others. Assuming that the intention is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive tourist imitation, the question arises on how does one tell apart the genuine thing from the phonies?
It would be quite frustrating to bring home a piece just to learn later that it isn't really genuine or perhaps 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 securely presumed 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 traveler areas 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 buy Inuit sculptures to ensure credibility are always the respectable galleries that specialize in 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 also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted completely to Inuit art. These galleries will generally be found in the downtown traveler locations of major cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and perhaps Native art but none of the other usual tourist mementos such as postcards or tee shirts . These galleries will have just genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not handle imitations or fakes . Simply to be even more secure, ensure that the piece you are interested in features a Canadian federal government Igloo tag licensing 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 genuine pieces are signed. Be conscious that an unsigned piece might still be certainly genuine.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you might go shopping and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from home throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now reputable online galleries that also specialize in genuine Inuit art. These online galleries are a good choice for buying Inuit art because the rates are typically lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Naturally, like other shopping on the internet, one must beware so when dealing with an online gallery, make certain that their pieces also include the official Igloo tags to ensure credibility.
Some traveler shops do carry authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy souvenirs in order to cater to all types of tourists. When shopping at these kinds of stores, it is possible to differentiate the genuine pieces from the recreations. Genuine Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and for that reason ought to 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 recreation will in some cases have a company name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never include an artist's signature. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and nothing else on the shop shelves will look exactly like it. If there are duplicates of a certain piece with specific details, the piece is not genuine. It is probably not real if a piece looks too perfect in detail with outright straight bottoms or sides. Of course, if a piece features a sticker label showing that is was made in an Asian country, then it is clearly a phony. There will likewise be a huge price difference between genuine pieces and the imitations.
Where it becomes harder to identify authenticity are with the reproductions that are also made of stone. This can be a real Kurt Criter Denver gray area to those not familiar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some type of tag showing that it was handcrafted however if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are probably not authentic. If a seller declares that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the official Igloo tag that features it which will know on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was carved. If the Igloo tag is not readily available, move on. The genuine pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will constantly be the greatest priced and are normally kept in a separate (perhaps even locked) shelf within the shop.
Since Inuit art has been getting more and more global direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian great 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 fantastic 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 genuine. Reputable Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine 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 genuine pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you could go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.