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



Lots of 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 international exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art kind at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. Presuming that the intent is to get an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive tourist imitation, the question arises on how does one tell apart the genuine thing from the phonies?

It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece only to find out later on that it isn't really authentic 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 bought from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would need to be more cautious elsewhere in Canada, especially in traveler areas where all sorts of other Canadian souvenirs such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, essential chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.

The best places to purchase Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are constantly the trustworthy galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides discovered in hotels.

Trusted Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which adheres completely to Inuit art. These galleries will usually be located in the downtown traveler areas of major cities. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and perhaps Native art however none of the other usual traveler souvenirs such as t-shirts or postcards . These galleries will have just authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not handle replicas or fakes . Just to be even much safer, make certain that the piece you are interested in features a Canadian government Igloo tag certifying that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all genuine pieces are signed. So be aware that an unsigned piece might still be undoubtedly genuine.

A few of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you could shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now credible online galleries that likewise link focus on authentic Inuit art. Because of lower overheads, these online galleries are a good alternative for buying Inuit art because the prices discover this are generally lower than those at street retail galleries. Naturally, like any other shopping on the internet, one need to take care so when dealing with an online gallery, make certain that their pieces also come with the main Igloo tags to guarantee credibility.

Some traveler stores do bring authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy mementos in order to cater to all types of tourists. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and for that reason 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 racks will look precisely like it.

Where it ends up being more difficult to determine credibility are with the recreations that are also made of 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 showing that it was handmade however if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are probably not authentic. If a seller declares 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. Move on if the Igloo tag is not available. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are generally kept in a separate ( maybe even locked) shelf within the shop.


Since Inuit art has actually been getting more and more international exposure, individuals might be seeing this Canadian fine art type at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. 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 straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trusted Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is dedicated totally 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 likewise have sites so you could shop and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *