Tips on Ways To Purchase and Look For Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures



Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the nation. These are the splendid handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists residing in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in some of the significant Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other tourist areas popular with international visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at various retail shops and displayed at some museums. Because Inuit art has actually been getting more and more international direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art kind at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for many tourists and art collectors to choose that they want to buy Inuit sculptures as nice souvenirs for their homes or as very unique gifts for others. Assuming that the intent is to obtain an authentic piece of Inuit art instead of a cheap tourist imitation, the question occurs on how does one differentiate the real thing from the fakes?

It would be pretty frustrating to bring home a piece only to discover later that it isn't really authentic or perhaps made in Canada. 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 securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more mindful somewhere else in Canada, specifically in traveler areas where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.

The most safe locations to shop for Inuit sculptures to guarantee credibility are constantly the reputable galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have advertisements in the city tour guide found in hotels.

Reliable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is dedicated completely to Inuit art. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and possibly Native art but none of the other typical traveler keepsakes such as tee shirts or postcards . 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 might go shopping and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now trusted online galleries that also specialize in authentic Inuit art.

Some traveler shops do bring authentic Inuit art along with the other touristy souvenirs in order to deal with all kinds of Kurt Criter Denver travelers. When shopping at these types of stores, it is possible to tell apart the real pieces from the reproductions. Genuine Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore should have some weight or mass to it. Stone is likewise cold to the touch. A reproduction made of plastic or resin from a mold will be much lighter in weight and will not be cold to the touch. A recreation will in some cases have a business 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 art work and absolutely nothing else on the store racks will look exactly like it. If there are duplicates of a specific piece with precise details, the piece is not genuine. It is probably not genuine if a piece looks too ideal in detail with outright straight bottoms or sides. Obviously, if a piece features a sticker indicating that is was made in an Asian nation, then it is clearly a fake. There will also be a big rate difference in between authentic pieces and the replicas.

This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with Get More Information genuine Inuit art. If a seller claims that such as piece is authentic, 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 carved. The genuine pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are generally kept in a different (perhaps even locked) rack within the store.


Since Inuit art has actually been getting more and more international direct exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic artwork, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a regional northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Reputable Inuit art galleries are also listed 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 also have sites so you might go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *