Tips on Ways To Purchase and Buy Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures



Numerous visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the country. These are the stunning handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists residing in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in a few of the significant Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other tourist areas popular with global visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at various retail shops and displayed at some museums. Considering that Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, individuals might be seeing this Canadian art kind at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of tourists and art collectors to choose that they would like to acquire Inuit sculptures as good souvenirs for their houses or as extremely unique gifts for others. Presuming that the intention is to acquire an authentic piece of Inuit art instead of a low-cost tourist imitation, the question emerges on how does one differentiate the real thing from the fakes?

It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece only to learn later on that it isn't authentic or perhaps made in Canada. If one is fortunate enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful art work, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would need to be more mindful somewhere else in Canada, specifically in tourist areas where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, essential chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.

The best locations to purchase Inuit sculptures to ensure credibility are constantly the reputable galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have advertisements in the city tour guide discovered in hotels.

Credible Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which adheres completely to Inuit art. These galleries will generally be found in the downtown tourist areas of significant cities. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and possibly Native art however none of the other normal tourist mementos such as postcards or tee shirts . These galleries will have just genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with replicas or phonies . Just to be even safer, ensure that the piece you have an interest in features a Canadian federal government Igloo tag certifying that it was handmade by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be Kurt Criter Denver signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed. So know that an anonymous piece might still be indeed genuine.

Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you might shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now trustworthy online galleries that likewise focus on authentic Inuit art. These online galleries are a good alternative for buying Inuit art because the prices are generally lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Naturally, like any other shopping on the internet, one need to beware so when dealing with an online gallery, make sure that their pieces likewise come with the main Igloo tags to guarantee authenticity.

Some tourist stores do bring authentic Inuit art along with the other touristy souvenirs in order to deal with all types of tourists. When shopping at these kinds of shops, it is possible to tell apart the real pieces from the recreations. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore needs to have some weight or mass to it. Stone is also cold to the touch. A reproduction made from plastic or resin next 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 ever 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 store shelves will look exactly like it. The piece is not authentic if there are duplicates of a specific piece with specific information. If a piece looks too perfect in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides, it is probably not real. Obviously, if a piece includes a sticker label indicating that is was made in an Asian country, then it is undoubtedly a phony. There will also be a huge price difference between authentic pieces and the imitations.

Where it becomes more difficult to figure out credibility are with the recreations that are likewise made from stone. This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and might even have some type of tag indicating that it was handcrafted however if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are more than likely not genuine. If a seller claims that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the main Igloo tag that comes with it which will know on the artist, place where it was made and the year it was carved. If the Igloo tag is not available, carry on. The authentic pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the greatest priced and are normally kept in a separate ( maybe even locked) shelf within the store.


Considering that 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 fortunate enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful art work, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trusted Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted completely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture might 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 sites so you might shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.

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