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



Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the nation. Considering that Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. Presuming that the objective is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost tourist imitation, the question emerges on how does one tell apart the real thing from the fakes?

It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece just to find out later that it isn't really 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 terrific artwork, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more careful in other places in Canada, particularly in tourist areas where all sorts of other Canadian souvenirs such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.

The most safe locations to look for Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are constantly the trustworthy galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide found in hotels.

Trustworthy 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 just Inuit art and possibly Native art but none of the other usual traveler keepsakes such as postcards or t-shirts . 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 sites so you could go shopping and buy authentic 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 genuine Inuit art.

Some tourist shops do bring authentic Inuit art along with the other touristy keepsakes in order to accommodate all types of travelers. When shopping at these types of stores, it is possible to differentiate the genuine pieces from the recreations. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and for that reason ought to have some weight or mass to it. Stone is also cold to the touch. A recreation 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 knockout post 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 nothing else on the store shelves will look precisely like it. If there are duplicates of a specific piece with specific details, the piece is not genuine. It is most likely not real if a piece looks too best in detail with outright straight bottoms or sides. Of course, if a piece features a sticker indicating that is was made in an Asian country, then it is certainly a fake. There will also be a huge cost difference in between genuine pieces and the imitations.

Where it becomes more difficult to determine authenticity are with the recreations that are also made from 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 type of tag indicating that it was handcrafted but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are probably not authentic. If a seller claims that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the main Igloo tag that includes it which will know on the artist, place where it was made and the year it was carved. Move on if the Igloo tag is not readily available. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are generally kept in next page a different (perhaps even locked) shelf within the shop.


Because Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art kind 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 terrific artwork, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a local northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Respectable Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is dedicated totally to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture might 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 could go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.

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