Tips on How to Purchase and Purchase Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures



Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the country. Since Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art kind at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. Presuming that the intention is to acquire an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost tourist replica, 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 find out later that it isn't genuine and even made in Canada. If one is lucky enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their terrific artwork, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would have to be more careful somewhere else in Canada, specifically in tourist areas where all sorts of other Canadian souvenirs such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.

The best locations to look for Inuit sculptures to guarantee credibility are always the respectable galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have advertisements in the city tourist guides discovered in hotels.

Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted completely to Inuit art. These galleries will normally be found in the downtown traveler areas of major cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and maybe Native art however none of the other usual traveler keepsakes such as t-shirts or postcards . These galleries will have just authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not handle imitations or fakes . Simply to be even much safer, make sure that the piece you have an interest in comes with a Canadian federal government Igloo tag licensing that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed. So know that https://myspace.com/kurtcriter an unsigned piece may still be certainly genuine.

A few of these Inuit art galleries also 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 respectable online galleries that likewise specialize in genuine Inuit art. These online galleries are a great choice for purchasing Inuit art since the rates are usually lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Naturally, like other shopping on the internet, one should beware so when handling an online gallery, ensure that their pieces also feature the main Igloo tags to guarantee authenticity.

Some traveler shops do bring authentic Inuit art in addition to the other touristy souvenirs in order to cater to all kinds of tourists. When shopping at these kinds of stores, it is possible to tell apart the genuine pieces from the reproductions. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and therefore needs to have some weight great post to read or mass to it. Stone is likewise cold to the touch. A reproduction made from plastic or resin from a mold will be much lighter in weight and will not be cold to the touch. A recreation will sometimes have a company name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never include an artist's signature. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and absolutely nothing else on the shop shelves will look exactly like it. The piece is not genuine if there are duplicates of a certain piece with precise details. If a piece looks too best in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides, it is most likely not real. Obviously, if a piece features a sticker indicating that is was made in an Asian nation, then it is obviously a phony. There will their website also be a substantial price difference between genuine pieces and the imitations.

This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar 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 sculpted. The authentic pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are generally kept in a different ( maybe even locked) rack within the shop.


Since Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling 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 store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Respectable Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated totally 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 also have websites so you could go shopping and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.

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