Tips on The Best Ways To Buy 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 country. Since Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art kind at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. Assuming that the objective is to obtain an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a cheap tourist imitation, the question emerges on how does one inform apart the real thing from the fakes?
It would be pretty frustrating to bring home a piece just to discover later on 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 wonderful art work, 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. One would have to be more cautious somewhere else in Canada, specifically in traveler locations where all sorts of other Canadian keepsakes such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The most safe locations to buy Inuit sculptures to make sure authenticity are always the trustworthy galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides found in hotels.
Trusted Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which adheres totally to Inuit art. These galleries will normally be found in the downtown tourist areas of significant cities. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and possibly Native art however none of the other typical tourist souvenirs such as tee shirts or postcards . These galleries will have only authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with replicas or phonies . Simply to be even much safer, make sure that the piece you have an interest in includes a Canadian federal government Igloo tag licensing that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all genuine pieces are signed. So know that an unsigned piece might still be undoubtedly authentic.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have sites so you could go shopping and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now trustworthy online galleries that also specialize in genuine Inuit art.
Some tourist stores do carry authentic Inuit art along with the other touristy keepsakes in order to deal with all types of tourists. When shopping at these kinds of stores, it is possible to differentiate the real pieces from the reproductions. Genuine Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore must 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 reproduction will in some cases have a company 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 store racks will look precisely like it. If there are duplicates of a particular piece with precise information, the piece is not genuine. It is probably not real if a piece looks too perfect in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides. Obviously, if a piece features a sticker label showing that is was made in an Asian country, then it is certainly a fake. There will also be a big cost difference in between genuine pieces and the replicas.
This can be a real gray location to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. If a seller claims that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the official Igloo tag that comes with it which will have info on the Kurt Criter Denver artist, area where it was made and the year it was carved. The authentic pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the greatest priced and are generally kept in a separate ( maybe even locked) shelf within the store.
Because Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, people 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 fantastic artwork, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern shop Kurt Criter Denver or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Reputable Inuit art galleries are likewise noted 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 also have websites so you could shop and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.