Tips on How to Purchase and Look For Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the country. Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian great art kind at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. Assuming that the intention is to acquire an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a cheap tourist replica, the concern develops on how does one inform apart the real thing from the fakes?
It would be quite frustrating to bring home a piece just to discover later that it isn't genuine or perhaps made in Canada. If one is lucky enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful art work, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would need to be more careful elsewhere in Canada, particularly in traveler areas where all sorts of other Canadian souvenirs such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The safest locations to look for Inuit sculptures to ensure credibility are constantly the reliable galleries that concentrate on 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 likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted entirely to Inuit art. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and maybe Native art but none of the other usual traveler souvenirs such as postcards or t-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 likewise have websites so you could go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from house throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now reliable online galleries that likewise specialize in genuine Inuit art. Because of lower overheads, these online galleries are a great alternative for purchasing Inuit art because the costs are generally lower than those at street retail galleries. Obviously, like any other shopping on the internet, one should beware so when dealing with an online gallery, ensure that their pieces also include the official Igloo tags to ensure authenticity.
Some tourist shops do bring authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes in order to deal with all types of travelers. When shopping at these types of shops, it is possible to differentiate the real pieces from the recreations. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and for that reason needs 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 business name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never ever feature an artist's signature. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and nothing else on the shop shelves will look precisely like it. The piece is not authentic if there are duplicates of a particular piece with exact details. If a piece looks too best in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides, it is probably not real. Naturally, if a piece includes a sticker label indicating that is was made in an Asian country, then it is certainly a fake. There will also be a big cost distinction in between genuine pieces and the replicas.
Where it becomes harder to figure out credibility are with the reproductions that are also made from stone. This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and might even have some type of tag showing that it was handcrafted but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are probably not authentic. If a seller declares that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the main Igloo tag that comes with 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 genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the greatest priced and are normally kept in a separate ( maybe even locked) rack within the store.
Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more international exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian fine art type at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Kurt Criter Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic art work, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a regional northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Respectable Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted entirely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture may 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 sites so you might go shopping and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.