Tips on How to Buy and Shop for Authentic 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 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 locations popular with worldwide visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at numerous retail shops and displayed at some museums. Given that Inuit art has been getting a growing number of international exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art type at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for numerous travelers and art collectors to decide that they would like to buy Inuit sculptures as great souvenirs for their homes or as extremely special presents for others. Assuming that the objective is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost traveler replica, the question arises on how does one differentiate the genuine thing from the phonies?
It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece only to learn later on that it isn't authentic and even 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 securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would have to be more careful elsewhere in Canada, particularly in tourist areas where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The most safe locations to shop for Inuit sculptures to make sure authenticity are constantly the trustworthy galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have advertisements in the city tour guide discovered in hotels.
Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted totally to Inuit art. These galleries will normally be located in the downtown tourist locations of major cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and possibly Native art but none of the other normal tourist mementos such as tee shirts or postcards . These galleries will have only authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not handle imitations or phonies . Just to be even safer, ensure that the piece you have an interest in includes a Canadian federal government Igloo tag certifying that it was handmade by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all Go Here authentic pieces are signed. Be mindful that an anonymous piece might still be undoubtedly authentic.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have sites so you could go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from house 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 tourist shops do carry 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 therefore needs to have some weight or mass to it. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and absolutely nothing else on the shop shelves will look exactly like it.
This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with authentic Inuit art. If a seller claims that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the main Igloo tag that comes with it which will have details on the artist, area where it was made and the year it was sculpted. The authentic pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are typically kept in a separate ( possibly even locked) shelf within the shop.
Given that Inuit art has actually been getting more and more global direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art type at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic artwork, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Reliable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted entirely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you might go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.