Tips on The Best Ways To Purchase and Buy Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures



Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the country. These are the magnificent handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists residing in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in some of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other traveler areas popular with global visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at various retail shops and showed at some museums. Considering that Inuit art has been getting a growing number of global exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian art type at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for many tourists and art collectors to choose that they wish to acquire Inuit sculptures as good mementos for their homes or as very special presents for others. Presuming that the objective is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art instead of a low-cost traveler replica, the question emerges on how does one tell apart the real thing from the phonies?

It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece just to find out later that it isn't really genuine and 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 wonderful artwork, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more careful somewhere else in Canada, specifically in tourist areas where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.

The best places to buy Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are always the reputable galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide discovered in hotels.

Trusted Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated completely 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 normal traveler keepsakes such as postcards or tee shirts . The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all genuine pieces are signed.

A few of these Inuit art galleries also have sites so you could go shopping and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now trusted online galleries that also specialize in genuine Inuit art. These online galleries are a good alternative for purchasing Inuit art since the prices are generally lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Naturally, like other shopping on the internet, one need to be careful so when handling an online gallery, ensure that their pieces also come with the official Igloo tags to ensure authenticity.

Some tourist shops do bring genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes 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 genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and nothing else on the shop racks will look exactly like it.

Where it ends up being more difficult to identify credibility are with the reproductions that are also made from stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and might even https://www.buzzfeed.com/kurtcriter have some type of tag suggesting that it was handcrafted but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are most likely not authentic. If a seller claims that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the main Igloo tag that includes it which will have information on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was carved. Move on if the Igloo tag is not offered. The authentic pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the greatest priced and are generally kept in a separate ( maybe even locked) shelf within the shop.


Since Inuit art has been getting more and more global exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art kind at museums and galleries situated 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 safely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Credible Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is dedicated totally to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture may 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 websites so you might shop and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.

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