Tips on Ways To Purchase and Shop for Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the country. Considering that Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art type at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. Assuming that the objective is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive tourist replica, the concern arises on how does one tell apart 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 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 art work, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more cautious elsewhere in Canada, particularly in tourist areas where all sorts of other Canadian souvenirs such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The safest places to purchase Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are always the trustworthy galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides discovered in hotels.
Trusted Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted entirely to Inuit art. These galleries will generally be found in the downtown tourist locations of major cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and perhaps Native art but none of the other usual traveler mementos such as postcards or tee shirts . These galleries will have only genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with fakes or imitations . Simply to be even much safer, make sure that the piece you are interested in features a Canadian government Igloo tag licensing that it was handmade by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all authentic pieces are signed. So be aware that an unsigned piece might still be indeed genuine.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you might shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now reliable online galleries that likewise specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some tourist shops do carry authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy souvenirs in order to cater to all types of tourists. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore ought to have some weight or mass to it. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and absolutely nothing else on the shop racks will look precisely like it.
Where it ends up being harder to check it out figure out credibility are with the recreations that are also made of stone. This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and might even have some kind of tag suggesting that it was handmade but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are more than likely not genuine. If a seller declares that such as piece is authentic, ask Kurt Criter to see the main Igloo tag that features it which will know on the artist, place where it was made and the year it was carved. If the Igloo tag is not available, move on. The genuine pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are generally kept in a separate (perhaps even locked) rack within the store.
Because Inuit art has actually been getting more and more international direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art form at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic art work, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is dedicated entirely 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 sites so you might shop and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.