Tips on The Best Ways To Purchase and Look 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. Since Inuit art has been getting more and more global direct exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian great art type at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. Presuming that the objective is to obtain an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a cheap tourist imitation, the concern develops on how does one tell apart the real thing from the fakes?
It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece only to find out later on that it isn't authentic and even made in Canada. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic artwork, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would need to be more careful somewhere else in Canada, especially in traveler locations where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.
The safest locations to purchase Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are always the trusted galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have advertisements in the city tour guide discovered in hotels.
Reputable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted entirely to Inuit art. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and maybe Native art but none of the other usual tourist keepsakes such as t-shirts or postcards . 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 also have websites so you could go shopping and purchase 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 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 tourists. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved 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 absolutely nothing else on the shop racks will look precisely like it.
Where it becomes more difficult to identify authenticity are with the recreations that are likewise made of stone. This can be a genuine gray https://medium.com/@kurtcriter area to those unfamiliar with authentic Inuit art. They do have mass and might even have some type of tag suggesting that it was handcrafted but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are more than likely not authentic. If a seller declares that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the main Igloo tag that comes with it which will know on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was sculpted. If the Igloo tag is not available, carry on. The authentic pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are typically kept in a different ( maybe even locked) rack within the shop.
Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art type at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. If one is fortunate 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 presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Credible Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated entirely 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 websites so you might go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.