Tips on How to Purchase and Look For Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures



Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the country. These are the splendid handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists living in the northern Arctic regions of Canada. While in some of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other traveler areas popular with worldwide visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at numerous retail stores and displayed at some museums. Given that Inuit art has actually been getting increasingly more worldwide direct exposure, individuals might be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of travelers and art collectors to choose that they wish to buy Inuit sculptures as nice keepsakes for their houses or as extremely distinct gifts for others. Presuming that the intent is to obtain an authentic piece of Inuit art instead of a cheap 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 authentic or perhaps made in Canada. If one is lucky enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic artwork, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more mindful in other places in Canada, particularly in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian keepsakes such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.

The best places to look for Inuit sculptures to make sure credibility are constantly the reliable galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide discovered in hotels.

Respectable Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted totally to Inuit art. These galleries will normally be found in the downtown tourist areas of major cities. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and perhaps Native art however none of the other typical traveler souvenirs such as tee shirts or postcards . These galleries will have just authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not handle replicas or fakes . Simply to be even safer, make sure that the piece you are interested in includes a Canadian federal government Igloo tag licensing that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by look what i found the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all authentic pieces are signed. So be aware that an unsigned piece may still be certainly genuine.

Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have websites so you might shop and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house Kurt Criter Denver anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now trustworthy online galleries that likewise specialize in genuine Inuit art.

Some tourist shops do bring genuine 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 must have some weight or mass to it. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and absolutely nothing find out else on the shop racks will look precisely like it.

Where it ends up being harder to determine credibility are with the reproductions that are also made of stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those unfamiliar with authentic Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some kind of tag indicating that it was handmade but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are more than likely not genuine. If a seller claims that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the official Igloo tag that includes it which will have information on the artist, location 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 always be the highest priced and are generally kept in a different (perhaps even locked) shelf within the store.


Because Inuit art has been getting more and more global exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art type at galleries and museums situated 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 securely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Reputable Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted 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 likewise have websites so you could go shopping and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.

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