Tips on How to Purchase and Look For Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Numerous visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the nation. Considering that Inuit art has been getting more and more international direct exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. Presuming that the objective is to obtain an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost traveler imitation, the question emerges on how does one tell apart the genuine thing from the fakes?
It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece just to find out later that it isn't really genuine and 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 wonderful artwork, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more careful somewhere else in Canada, specifically in traveler locations where all sorts of other Canadian souvenirs such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.
The best locations to shop for Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are always the trusted galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide found in hotels.
Reputable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine 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 just Inuit art and possibly Native art but none of the other usual tourist souvenirs such as t-shirts or postcards . These galleries will have just genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with fakes or imitations . Simply to be even safer, make certain that the piece you are interested in features 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. So understand that an unsigned piece might still be undoubtedly authentic.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you might go shopping and buy genuine 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 traveler shops do carry genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy souvenirs in order to cater to all types of travelers. Genuine Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and for that reason must have some weight or mass to it. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and nothing else on the shop shelves will look precisely like it.
Where it ends up being harder to determine credibility are with the reproductions that are also made from stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. They do Kurt Criter Denver have mass and may even have some type of tag suggesting 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 main Igloo tag that features it which will know on the artist, location where view publisher site it was made and the year it was carved. Move on if the Igloo tag is not offered. The authentic pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are generally kept in a different ( possibly even locked) shelf within the store.
Because Inuit art has actually been getting more and more global exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art kind at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful artwork, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trusted Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated completely 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 could go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.