Tips on How to Buy and Shop for Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures



Numerous visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the country. Because Inuit art has 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. Presuming that the intention is to acquire an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive traveler replica, the concern emerges on how does one inform apart the genuine thing from the phonies?

It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece just to find out later that it isn't really authentic or 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 fantastic artwork, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more careful elsewhere in Canada, specifically in tourist areas where all sorts of other Canadian souvenirs such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.

The best places to buy Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are constantly the trusted galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide found in hotels.

Reputable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted entirely to Inuit art. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and perhaps Native art but none of the other normal tourist keepsakes such as t-shirts or postcards . 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 likewise have sites so you might shop and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now respectable online galleries that also specialize in authentic Inuit art.

Some tourist stores do bring this page genuine Inuit art in addition to the other touristy keepsakes in order to deal with all kinds of tourists. When shopping at these types of shops, it is possible to differentiate the genuine pieces from the reproductions. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and therefore should have some weight or mass to it. Stone is likewise cold to the touch. A reproduction made of plastic or resin from a mold will be much lighter in weight and will not be cold to the touch. A reproduction will often have a business name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never ever include an artist's signature. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and nothing else on the store racks will look precisely like it. The piece is not authentic if there are duplicates of a particular piece with precise details. If a piece looks too best in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides, it is most likely not real. Naturally, if a piece features a sticker suggesting that is was made in an Asian country, then it is clearly a phony. There will likewise be a huge rate distinction between authentic pieces and the replicas.

Where it becomes harder to identify authenticity are with the reproductions that are also made of stone. This can be a real gray area to those not familiar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and may even 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 official Igloo tag that comes with it which will have information on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was carved. If the Igloo tag is not offered, proceed. The authentic pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are usually kept in a separate ( maybe even locked) rack within the store.


Considering that Inuit art has been getting more and more international exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art kind at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic artwork, then Kurt Criter it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trusted Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated entirely 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 also have websites so you could shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.

Leave a Reply

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