Tips on How to Buy and Look For Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures



Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the country. These are the stunning handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists living in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in some of the significant Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other traveler locations popular with international visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at different retail stores and showed at some museums. Given that Inuit art has been getting increasingly more international exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at museums and galleries 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 good mementos for their homes or as very special presents for others. Presuming that the objective is to acquire an authentic piece of Inuit art instead of a low-cost traveler imitation, the question arises on how does one differentiate the genuine thing from the phonies?

It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece just to find out later on that it isn't really genuine or 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 fantastic 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 genuine. One would have to be more cautious in other places 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 offered.

The safest locations to buy Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are constantly the credible galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have advertisements in the city tourist guides found in hotels.

Credible Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted totally to Inuit art. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and possibly Native art but none of the other typical traveler souvenirs such as t-shirts or postcards . 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 websites so you could go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now reliable online galleries that likewise specialize in authentic Inuit art.

Some tourist stores do carry genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes in order to cater to all kinds of tourists. When shopping at these types of stores, it is possible to differentiate the real pieces from the recreations. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and therefore must have some weight Kurt Criter Denver or mass to it. Stone is also cold to the touch. A recreation made from 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 company 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 my company kind piece of artwork and absolutely nothing else on the store racks will look precisely like it. The piece is not authentic if there are duplicates of a specific piece with precise information. If a piece looks too perfect in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides, it is probably not real. Naturally, if a piece includes a sticker indicating that is was made in an Asian country, then it is clearly a phony. There will also be a huge price difference between genuine pieces and the replicas.

Where it ends up being more difficult to determine authenticity are with the recreations that are also 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 suggesting that it was handmade however if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are most likely not genuine. If a seller claims that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the main Igloo tag that includes 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 authorities Igloo tags will constantly be redirected here the highest priced and are usually kept in a separate (perhaps even locked) shelf within the shop.


Because Inuit art has actually been getting more and more global exposure, people may 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 art work, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a local northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Trustworthy 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 authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you might go shopping 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 *