Tips on How to Buy and Shop for Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the nation. These are the stunning handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists living 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 displayed at some museums. Since Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of travelers and art collectors to choose that they wish to acquire Inuit sculptures as great mementos for their houses or as extremely special presents for others. Assuming that the objective is to obtain an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a cheap tourist imitation, the concern develops on how does one differentiate the genuine thing from the phonies?
It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece just to discover later that it isn't genuine or perhaps made in Canada. If one is lucky enough to be taking a trip 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 straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would have to be more careful in other places in Canada, particularly in traveler areas where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, essential chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The most safe locations to look for Inuit sculptures to ensure authenticity are always the credible galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides discovered in hotels.
Reliable Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted completely to Inuit art. These galleries will typically be found in the downtown traveler areas of major cities. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and perhaps Native art but none of the other normal traveler keepsakes such as tee shirts or postcards . These galleries will have just authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not handle phonies or replicas . Just to be even more secure, ensure that the piece you are interested in comes with a Canadian government Igloo tag accrediting 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 genuine pieces are signed. So know that an unsigned piece may still be undoubtedly genuine.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you could go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now trusted online galleries that likewise specialize in genuine Inuit art. These online galleries are a great alternative for buying Inuit art because the costs are usually lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Naturally, like other shopping on the internet, one must beware so when dealing with an online gallery, ensure that their pieces also include the official Igloo tags to ensure authenticity.
Some tourist shops do bring genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy souvenirs in order to cater to all types of travelers. When shopping at these types of shops, it is possible to Kurt Criter Denver tell apart the genuine pieces from the reproductions. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and for that reason needs to have some weight or mass to it. Stone is likewise 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 reproduction will in some cases 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 artwork and nothing else on the shop shelves will look exactly like it. If there are duplicates of a particular piece with exact information, the piece is not genuine. It is probably not real if a piece looks too ideal in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides. Naturally, if a piece includes a sticker showing that is was made in an Asian country, then it is certainly a phony. There will also be a huge cost difference between genuine pieces and the replicas.
Where it becomes harder to identify credibility are with the reproductions that are likewise 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 kind of tag suggesting that it was handcrafted but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are probably not genuine. If a seller claims that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the official Igloo tag that comes with it which will know on the artist, place where it was made and the year it see this page was sculpted. If the Igloo tag is not offered, carry on. The genuine pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the greatest priced and are normally kept in a different ( possibly even locked) rack within the store.
Considering that Inuit art has been getting more and more global direct exposure, people may try this be seeing this Canadian fine art kind at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic art work, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a regional northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is dedicated totally to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture might 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 could shop and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.