Tips on How to Purchase and Purchase Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the country. These are the splendid handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists residing in the northern Arctic regions of Canada. While in a few of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other traveler areas popular with international visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at numerous retail shops and showed at some museums. Considering that Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art form at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for numerous travelers and art collectors to decide that they want to purchase Inuit sculptures as great souvenirs for their homes or as extremely unique gifts for others. Assuming that the intention is to get an genuine piece of Inuit art instead of a low-cost tourist replica, the question occurs on how does one tell apart the real thing from the phonies?
It would be pretty frustrating to bring home a piece just to find out later that it isn't really authentic or perhaps made in Canada. 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 safely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more careful in other places in Canada, especially in tourist areas where all sorts of other Canadian keepsakes such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.
The best locations to look for Inuit sculptures to make sure credibility are constantly the reliable galleries that concentrate 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 listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated completely to Inuit art. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and maybe Native art however none of the other normal tourist keepsakes such as postcards or tee shirts . 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 likewise have websites so you might shop and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from home throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now trusted online galleries that also concentrate on authentic Inuit art. These online galleries are a great alternative for purchasing Inuit art considering that the prices are usually lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Of course, like other shopping on the internet, one need to be careful so when dealing with an online gallery, make sure that their pieces also feature the main Igloo tags to guarantee authenticity.
Some tourist shops do bring genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes in order to cater to all types of travelers. Genuine Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and therefore ought to have some weight or mass to it. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and absolutely nothing else on the store shelves will look exactly like it.
Where look at here it becomes harder to figure out authenticity are with the reproductions that are also made of stone. This can be a real gray area to those not familiar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some kind of tag indicating that it was handcrafted but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are probably not authentic. If a seller declares 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 was carved. If the Igloo tag is not readily available, carry on. The authentic pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are typically kept in a different (perhaps even locked) rack within the shop.
Because Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art kind at museums and galleries 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 artwork, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Reputable Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted totally to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you might shop and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.