Tips on How to Purchase and Purchase Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the country. Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more international direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. Presuming that the intention is to get an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost traveler replica, 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 only to discover later that it isn't genuine or perhaps made in Canada. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling 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 straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more cautious elsewhere in Canada, especially in traveler locations where all sorts of other Canadian keepsakes such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, essential chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The best places to shop for Inuit sculptures to make sure credibility are always the respectable galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides discovered in hotels.
Reliable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted entirely to Inuit art. These galleries will generally be located in the downtown tourist locations of significant cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and maybe Native art however none of the other normal traveler souvenirs such as tee shirts or postcards . These galleries will have just genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with phonies or imitations . Just to be even much safer, ensure that the piece you have an interest in comes with a Canadian government Igloo tag licensing that it was handmade by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all authentic pieces are signed. Be conscious that an anonymous piece may still be undoubtedly genuine.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you could go shopping and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now credible online galleries that likewise specialize in genuine Inuit art.
Some tourist shops do carry authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes in order to deal with all kinds of tourists. When shopping at these types of stores, it is possible to differentiate the real pieces from the recreations. Genuine Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore needs to have some weight or mass to it. Stone get more is likewise 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 often have a company name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never feature an artist's signature. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and absolutely nothing else on the shop shelves will look exactly like it. If there are duplicates of a particular piece with precise information, the piece is not genuine. If a piece looks too ideal in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides, it is probably not real. Naturally, if a piece includes a sticker label indicating that is was made in an Asian country, then it is undoubtedly a fake. There will likewise be a huge price difference in between authentic pieces and the replicas.
This can be a real gray area to those unknown with genuine Inuit art. If a seller declares that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the official Igloo tag that comes with it which will have info on the artist, area where it was made and the year it was sculpted. The authentic pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the greatest priced and are generally kept in a separate (perhaps even locked) shelf within the store.
Since Inuit art has been getting more and more global direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art kind 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 wonderful artwork, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted totally 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 sites so you might go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.