Tips on Ways To Buy and Buy Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures



Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the country. These are the stunning handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists living in the northern Arctic regions of Canada. While in some of the significant 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 numerous retail stores and showed at some museums. Since Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian art kind at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of tourists and art collectors to choose that they want to buy Inuit sculptures as great mementos for their homes or as very special gifts for others. Presuming that the objective is to acquire an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost traveler imitation, the question arises on how does one tell apart the genuine thing from the fakes?

It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece just to discover later that it isn't really genuine 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 wonderful art work, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more careful elsewhere in Canada, particularly in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian keepsakes such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, essential chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.

The most safe locations to buy Inuit sculptures to make sure credibility are always the credible galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide found in hotels.

Reliable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted totally to Inuit art. These galleries will generally be located in the downtown tourist areas of significant cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and perhaps Native art but none of the other typical tourist keepsakes such as tee shirts or postcards . These galleries will have only genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with phonies or replicas . Simply to be even more secure, make sure that the piece you are interested in includes a Canadian government Igloo tag accrediting that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by Kurt Criter the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all authentic pieces are signed. So be aware that an anonymous piece might still be certainly genuine.

Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have websites so you might go shopping and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from house throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now reputable online galleries that also focus on genuine Inuit art. Because of lower overheads, these online galleries are a good option for purchasing Inuit art because the costs are usually lower than those at street retail galleries. Naturally, like other shopping on the internet, one need to be careful so when dealing with an online gallery, ensure that their pieces also come with the main Igloo tags to make sure authenticity.

Some traveler stores do bring authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes in order to cater to all types of tourists. Genuine Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and for that reason 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 shop shelves will look exactly like it.

Where it becomes harder to identify authenticity are with the reproductions that are likewise made of stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those not familiar 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 similar in detail, they are most likely not authentic. If a seller declares that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the official Igloo tag that comes with it which will have information on the artist, area where it was made and the year it was sculpted. If the Igloo get more tag is not readily available, proceed. The genuine pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are normally kept in a separate ( possibly even locked) rack within the shop.


Considering that Inuit art has been getting more and more global exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art type at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be taking a trip 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 bought from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trustworthy 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 genuine pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you could go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.

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