Tips on How to Buy and Purchase Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures



Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the nation. These are the splendid handmade sculptures carved 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 traveler locations popular with global visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at numerous retail shops and displayed at some museums. Because Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian art kind at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for many tourists and art collectors to decide that they would like to buy Inuit sculptures as great keepsakes for their houses or as really special presents for others. Presuming that the intent is to acquire an authentic piece of Inuit art instead of a low-cost tourist replica, the question arises on how does one differentiate the genuine thing from the phonies?

It would be quite frustrating to bring home a piece just to find out later that it isn't really authentic 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 terrific art work, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern store or straight 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 keepsakes such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.

The best places to purchase Inuit sculptures to make sure credibility are always the reputable galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have advertisements in the city tour guide discovered in hotels.

Respectable Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated completely 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 normal tourist keepsakes such as postcards or tee shirts . The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all genuine pieces are signed.

Some of webpage these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you could shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now respectable online galleries that likewise concentrate on genuine Inuit art. These online galleries are a good choice for buying Inuit art because the prices are normally lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Of course, like other shopping on the internet, one should be careful so when handling an online gallery, ensure that their pieces also include the main Igloo tags to ensure credibility.

Some traveler shops do carry authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes in order to accommodate all kinds of tourists. When shopping at these types of stores, it is possible to differentiate the real pieces from the recreations. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and for that reason should have some weight or mass to it. Stone is also 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 reproduction will sometimes 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 artwork and absolutely nothing else on the shop shelves will look precisely like it. If there are duplicates of a particular piece with exact information, the piece is not authentic. If a piece looks too best in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides, it is most likely not real. Obviously, if a piece features a sticker indicating that is was made in an Asian nation, then it is obviously a phony. There will also be a huge price difference between authentic pieces and the imitations.

This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with authentic Inuit art. If a seller declares 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 normally kept in a different (perhaps even locked) shelf within the shop.


Considering that Inuit art has been getting more and more international exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian great art form at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their terrific artwork, 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. Reliable Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated totally to Inuit art. 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 sites so you might shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.

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