Tips on How to Purchase and Shop for Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures



Numerous visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the nation. These are the stunning handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists residing in the northern Arctic regions of Canada. While in some of the significant Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other tourist locations popular with worldwide visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at various retail shops and showed at some museums. Because Inuit art has been getting a growing number of worldwide direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian art form at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of tourists and art collectors to decide that they would like to acquire Inuit sculptures as good keepsakes for their houses or as really unique presents for others. Presuming that the intent is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive traveler replica, the concern emerges on how does one tell apart the real thing from the fakes?

It would be pretty frustrating to bring home a piece only to discover later that it isn't authentic or perhaps 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 local northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more cautious somewhere else in Canada, especially in traveler locations where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.

The most safe places to purchase Inuit sculptures to ensure authenticity are always the credible galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have advertisements in the city tour guide found in hotels.

Credible Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted entirely 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 typical traveler keepsakes such as t-shirts or postcards . 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 Kurt Criter Denver galleries also have sites so you could go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now reliable online galleries that likewise specialize in genuine Inuit art.

Some tourist shops do carry authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes in order to deal with all kinds of tourists. When shopping at these types of shops, it is possible to differentiate the genuine pieces from the reproductions. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore ought to 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 recreation will often have a business name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never include an artist's signature. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and absolutely nothing else on the shop racks will look exactly like it. If there are duplicates of a certain piece with exact information, the piece is not authentic. It is probably not real if a piece looks too best in detail with outright straight bottoms or sides. Naturally, if a piece features a sticker indicating that is was made in an Asian country, then it is certainly a phony. There will also be a substantial cost distinction between genuine pieces and the imitations.

This can be a genuine gray location to those unknown with authentic Inuit art. If a seller declares that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the official Igloo tag that comes with it which will have information on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was carved. The authentic pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are generally kept in a separate ( possibly even locked) rack within the store.


Because Inuit art has been getting more and more global exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian great art kind 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 artwork, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine 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 websites so you could go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.

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