Tips on How to Buy and Shop for Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures



Numerous visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the country. These are the spectacular handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists residing in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in a few of the major 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 showed at some museums. Considering that Inuit art has been getting increasingly more international direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian art kind at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for numerous tourists and art collectors to decide that they want to purchase Inuit sculptures as nice mementos for their homes or as really unique gifts for others. Presuming that the intent is to obtain an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive traveler replica, the concern emerges on how does one tell apart the real thing from the phonies?

It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece only to find out later that it isn't genuine or even made in Canada. If one is lucky 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 store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more careful elsewhere in Canada, particularly in tourist areas where all sorts of other Canadian keepsakes such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.

The safest locations to buy Inuit sculptures to make sure authenticity are always the respectable galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides discovered in hotels.

Respectable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is dedicated totally to Inuit art. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and perhaps Native art however none of the other normal traveler keepsakes such as postcards or tee shirts . The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Criter all authentic pieces are signed.

Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites 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 reliable online galleries that likewise specialize in authentic Inuit art.

Some tourist stores do bring authentic 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 genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and absolutely nothing else on the shop shelves will look precisely like it.

Where it becomes check that harder to here identify authenticity are with the recreations that are also made from stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those not familiar with authentic Inuit art. They do have mass and might even have some type of tag indicating that it was handcrafted however if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are most likely not genuine. 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, area where it was made and the year it was sculpted. If the Igloo tag is not available, proceed. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are usually kept in a separate (perhaps even locked) shelf within the store.


Since Inuit art has been getting more and more global exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art type at galleries and museums located 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 art work, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Credible Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted entirely 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 purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.

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