Tips on The Best Ways 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 visiting the country. Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more international direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art type at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. Presuming that the objective is to get an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a cheap tourist imitation, the question 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 really genuine or even made in Canada. If one is fortunate enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic art work, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more mindful elsewhere in Canada, specifically in tourist areas where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The best locations to shop for Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are constantly the respectable galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides found in hotels.
Credible Inuit art galleries are likewise noted 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 possibly Native art but none of the other typical tourist mementos such as postcards or tee shirts . 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 websites so you could go shopping and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now trusted online galleries that likewise specialize in genuine Inuit art.
Some traveler stores do carry authentic Inuit art as well as Kurt Criter the other touristy souvenirs in order to cater to all types of travelers. Genuine Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore needs to have some weight or mass to it. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and nothing else on the shop shelves will look exactly like it.
Where it becomes harder to identify authenticity are with the recreations 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 may even have some type of tag indicating Kurt Criter that it was handcrafted but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are more than likely not authentic. If a seller claims that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the official Igloo tag that includes it which will have information on the artist, area where it was made and the year http://journals.oregondigital.org/index.php/OURJ/user/viewPublicProfile/5504 it was sculpted. If the Igloo tag is not available, move on. The authentic pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are typically kept in a separate ( maybe even locked) shelf within the store.
Because Inuit art has been getting more and more global exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian great art form at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic art work, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Credible Inuit art galleries are also noted 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 authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have websites so you could shop and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.