Tips on Ways To Purchase and Look For Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the country. These are the spectacular handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists living in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in some of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other tourist areas popular with international visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at various retail stores and showed at some museums. Because Inuit art has been getting increasingly more international exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian art type at galleries and museums 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 nice keepsakes for their houses or as really unique presents for others. Presuming that the objective is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost traveler replica, the concern emerges on how does one differentiate the genuine thing from the phonies?
It would be quite frustrating to bring home a piece only to discover later that it isn't authentic 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 safely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would need to be more cautious somewhere else in Canada, specifically in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.
The most safe places to buy Inuit sculptures to make sure credibility are always the trusted galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have advertisements in the city tour guide found in hotels.
Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which adheres totally to Inuit art. These galleries will typically be found in the downtown tourist areas of significant cities. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and perhaps Native art but none of the other typical tourist mementos such as postcards or tee shirts . These galleries will have just genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with replicas or fakes . Simply to be even safer, ensure that the piece you have an interest in comes with a Canadian 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 but not all authentic pieces are signed. So know that an unsigned piece may still be certainly genuine.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you might go shopping and buy authentic 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 genuine Inuit art.
Some traveler shops do bring authentic Inuit art along with the other touristy mementos in order to accommodate all types of tourists. When shopping at these kinds of shops, it is possible to differentiate the real pieces from the reproductions. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and for that reason ought to 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 linked here be cold to the touch. A reproduction will often have a business name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never ever feature an artist's signature. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and absolutely nothing else on the shop shelves will look exactly like it. The piece is not authentic if there are duplicates of a certain piece with precise details. It is probably not genuine if a piece looks too ideal in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides. Naturally, if a piece features a sticker indicating that is was made in an Asian nation, then it is certainly a phony. There will also be a big rate distinction 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 gray area to those unfamiliar with authentic Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some type of tag indicating that it was handmade 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 authentic, ask to see the official Igloo tag that includes it which will know on the artist, area where it was made and the year it was carved. If the Igloo tag is not offered, carry on. The authentic pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the greatest priced and are generally kept in a different ( maybe even locked) rack within the shop.
Because Inuit art has been getting more and more international direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful artwork, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Credible Inuit art galleries are likewise 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 authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you might go shopping and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.