Tips on How to Buy and Shop for Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the nation. These are the magnificent handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists living in the northern Arctic regions of Canada. While in a few 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 shops and displayed at some museums. Considering that Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian art type at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for many travelers and art collectors to choose that they would like to acquire Inuit sculptures as nice keepsakes for their homes or as extremely special gifts for others. Assuming that the intention is to acquire an authentic piece of Inuit art instead of a low-cost tourist imitation, the concern develops on how does one differentiate the real 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 fantastic artwork, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more careful elsewhere in Canada, especially in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian keepsakes such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.
The most safe locations to look for Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are always the trusted galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have advertisements in the city tourist guides found in hotels.
Trusted Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted entirely to Inuit art. These galleries will typically be located in the downtown tourist locations of significant cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and maybe Native art but none of the other normal traveler keepsakes such as t-shirts or postcards . These galleries will have only genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not handle fakes or replicas . Simply to be even safer, ensure that the piece you are interested in includes a Canadian government Igloo tag certifying that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed. Be aware that an unsigned piece may still be indeed Kurt Criter Denver genuine.
Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have websites so you could shop and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now respectable online galleries that also specialize in genuine Inuit art.
Some tourist stores do carry authentic Inuit art in addition to the other touristy mementos in order to cater to all types of tourists. When shopping at these kinds of shops, it is possible to differentiate the real pieces from the reproductions. Genuine Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and therefore must have some weight or mass to it. Stone is also cold to the touch. A reproduction 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 ever include an artist's signature. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and absolutely nothing else on the store racks will look exactly like it. If there are duplicates of a particular piece with precise details, the piece is not genuine. It is most likely not real if a piece looks too ideal in detail with outright straight bottoms or sides. Naturally, if a piece features a sticker label suggesting that is was made in an Asian country, then it is certainly a fake. There will likewise be a big cost difference between authentic pieces and the imitations.
Where it becomes harder to determine credibility are with the reproductions that are also made of stone. This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some type of tag showing that it was handmade however if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are most likely not authentic. If a seller claims 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 sculpted. If the Igloo tag is not readily available, carry on. The authentic pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are usually kept in a different (perhaps even locked) shelf within the store.
Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more international direct exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian great art form 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 terrific art work, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are also noted 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 but not all authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you might go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.