Tips on How to Purchase and Look For Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures



Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the country. These are the magnificent handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists residing in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in some of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other traveler areas popular with worldwide visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at different retail stores and displayed at some museums. Given that Inuit art has actually been getting increasingly more global exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for many travelers and art collectors to decide that they want to acquire Inuit sculptures as good keepsakes for their homes or as very special presents for others. Assuming that the intention is to obtain an authentic piece of Inuit art instead of a inexpensive tourist imitation, the concern emerges on how does one tell apart the genuine thing from the phonies?

It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece just to find out later that it isn't really authentic 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 terrific art work, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more mindful elsewhere in Canada, especially in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.

The most safe places to purchase Inuit sculptures to ensure authenticity are always the credible galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide discovered in hotels.

Respectable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which adheres totally to Inuit art. These galleries will generally be located in the downtown tourist locations of significant cities. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and possibly Native art but none of the other usual traveler souvenirs such as t-shirts or postcards . These galleries will have only authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with phonies or imitations . Just to be even safer, ensure that the piece you are interested in comes with a Canadian government Igloo tag licensing 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 authentic pieces are signed. So be aware that an unsigned piece may still be certainly authentic.

A few of these Inuit art galleries also have sites so you could shop and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now respectable online galleries that also concentrate on authentic Inuit art. These online galleries are a great option for purchasing Inuit art since the prices are normally lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Naturally, like other shopping on the internet, one need to take care so when dealing with an online gallery, make certain that their pieces also include the official Igloo tags to ensure credibility.

Some tourist stores do bring authentic Inuit art in addition to the other touristy souvenirs in order to accommodate all kinds of travelers. When shopping at these kinds of stores, it is possible to 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 also cold to the touch. A recreation 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 business name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never include an artist's signature. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and nothing else on the store racks will look exactly like it. If there are duplicates of a particular piece with exact details, the piece is not authentic. If a piece looks too perfect in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides, it is probably not real. Naturally, if a piece features a sticker suggesting that is was made in an Asian nation, then it is certainly a phony. There will also be a substantial cost distinction in between authentic pieces and the imitations.

Where it becomes harder to identify credibility are with the recreations that are likewise made of stone. This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with authentic Inuit art. They do have mass and might even have some kind of tag suggesting that it was handcrafted but if there are click for more other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are probably not genuine. If a seller declares that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the main Igloo tag that features it which will have information on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was carved. If the Igloo tag is not available, carry on. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the greatest learn this here now priced and are normally kept in a separate (perhaps even locked) rack within the store.


Since Inuit art has actually been getting more and more global exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art kind at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. If one is lucky 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 acquired from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Trusted Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine 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 authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you could shop and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.

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