Tips on The Best Ways To Purchase and Look For Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures

Numerous visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the nation. Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. Assuming that the objective is to acquire an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a cheap tourist imitation, the question occurs on how does one inform apart the genuine thing from the phonies?

It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece only to find out later that it isn't genuine or even made in Canada. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful art work, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would need to be more mindful in other places in Canada, particularly in traveler areas where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, essential chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.

The most safe locations to buy Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are constantly the trusted galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide discovered in hotels.

Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted entirely to Inuit art. These galleries will typically be found in the downtown tourist locations of major cities. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and maybe Native art but none of the other normal traveler keepsakes such as t-shirts or postcards . These galleries will have only authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with fakes or imitations . Simply to be even safer, make certain that the piece you are interested in includes Kurt Criter a Canadian government Igloo tag accrediting that it was handmade by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all authentic pieces are signed. Be aware that an unsigned piece may still be indeed genuine.

A few of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you might go shopping and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now respectable online galleries that also focus on genuine Inuit art. Since of lower overheads, these online galleries are a great alternative for buying Inuit art given that the rates are generally lower than those at street retail galleries. Naturally, like any other shopping on the internet, one should take care so when dealing with an online gallery, make certain that their pieces likewise come with the main Igloo tags to guarantee authenticity.

Some traveler shops do bring genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy souvenirs in order to cater to all types of travelers. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and for that reason ought to have some weight or mass to it. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and absolutely nothing else on the shop racks will look exactly like it.

This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with authentic Inuit art. If a seller declares that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the main Igloo tag that comes with it which will have information on the artist, place where it was made and the year it was sculpted. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are normally kept in a different ( possibly even locked) directory shelf within the store.


Since Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art type at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. 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 safely presumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a regional northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Reliable Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted entirely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed. Some 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.