Tips on How to Buy and Buy Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the country. Since Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian great art form at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. Assuming that the intent is to obtain an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive tourist replica, the question emerges on how does one tell apart the real thing from the phonies?
It would be quite frustrating to bring home a piece just to learn later that it isn't really authentic or perhaps made in Canada. 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 assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would have to be more cautious somewhere else in Canada, particularly in traveler locations 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 safest locations to buy Inuit sculptures to make sure authenticity are constantly the reliable galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide discovered in hotels.
Reputable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted 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 normal tourist keepsakes such as postcards or tee shirts . The Inuit sculpture might 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 might shop and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from home 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 traveler stores do bring authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy mementos in order to cater to all types of tourists. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and therefore needs to have some weight or mass to it. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and nothing else https://www.peekyou.com/kurt_karcher on the shop racks will look precisely like it.
Where it becomes more difficult to figure out authenticity are with the recreations that are likewise made from stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those not familiar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and might even have some kind of tag indicating that it was handcrafted however if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are most likely not authentic. If a seller claims that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the main Igloo tag that features it which will have information on the artist, place where it was made and the year it was sculpted. Move on if the Igloo tag is not offered. The authentic pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are usually kept in a separate (perhaps even locked) shelf within the shop.
Since Inuit art has actually been getting more and more international direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian great art kind at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful art work, then it Kurt Criter can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Reputable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated totally 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 likewise have websites so you might shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.