Tips on How 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 country. These are the spectacular handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists residing in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in a few 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 different retail stores and showed at some museums. Given that Inuit art has been getting a growing number of global exposure, individuals might be seeing this Canadian fine art type 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 would like to buy Inuit sculptures as nice mementos for their houses or as extremely special gifts for others. Presuming that the objective is to obtain an authentic piece of Inuit art instead of a cheap traveler imitation, the question arises on how does one tell apart the real thing from the phonies?

It would be pretty frustrating to bring home a piece only to discover later on that it isn't really authentic or even made in Canada. If one is fortunate 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 presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would have to be more mindful elsewhere in Canada, particularly in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.

The most safe places to look for Inuit sculptures to make sure credibility are constantly the reliable galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides found in hotels.

Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated totally to Inuit art. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and maybe Native art but none of the other usual tourist keepsakes such as t-shirts or postcards . 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 buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now respectable online galleries that likewise concentrate on authentic Inuit art. These online galleries are a excellent option for buying Inuit art given that the prices are normally lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Naturally, like any other shopping on the internet, one must take care so when dealing with an online gallery, make sure that their pieces likewise feature the main Igloo tags to make sure authenticity.

Some tourist shops do carry 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 should 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 more difficult to identify credibility are with the reproductions 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 however if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar 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 includes it which will have information on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was sculpted. If the Igloo tag is not readily available, proceed. The genuine pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the greatest priced and are normally kept in a separate ( maybe even locked) shelf within the shop.


Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more global direct exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian great art form at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. 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 bought from a regional northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trusted Inuit art galleries are likewise listed Kurt Criter in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted completely 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 websites so you could go shopping and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.

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