Tips on How 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 nation. Because Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian great art kind at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. Presuming that the intention is to get an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost traveler imitation, the concern occurs on how does one inform apart the genuine thing from the phonies?

It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece only to learn later that it isn't really genuine or perhaps made in Canada. 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 purchased from a regional northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more careful elsewhere in Canada, specifically 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 sold.

The most safe locations to look for Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are always the credible galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides discovered in hotels.

Respectable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which adheres completely 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 perhaps Native art but none of the other usual traveler mementos such as tee shirts or postcards . These galleries will have just genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with fakes or replicas . Just to be even more secure, make certain that the piece you are interested in features a Canadian federal government Igloo tag certifying that it was my link handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed. Be aware that an anonymous piece may still be indeed genuine.

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. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now reliable online galleries that likewise focus on authentic Inuit art. These online galleries are a great choice for purchasing Inuit art considering that the prices are normally lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Naturally, like other shopping on the internet, one must take care so when handling an online gallery, make certain that their pieces also include the main Igloo tags to guarantee credibility.

Some tourist shops do carry authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy mementos in order to cater to all types of tourists. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore needs to have some weight or mass to it. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and nothing else on the shop racks will look precisely like it.

Where it becomes more difficult to determine credibility are with the recreations that are also made from stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those not familiar with authentic Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some kind of tag indicating that it was handcrafted however if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are most likely not genuine. If a seller claims that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the official Igloo tag that features it which will know on the artist, area where it was made and the year it was sculpted. Move on if the Igloo tag is not readily available. The genuine pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will constantly be the greatest priced and are generally kept in a different ( maybe even locked) rack within the shop.


Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art form at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful artwork, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Respectable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted totally to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries also have sites so you could shop and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.

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