Tips on The Best Ways To Purchase 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 sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists living in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in a few 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 various retail stores and showed at some museums. Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more global exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian art form at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of tourists and art collectors to choose that they would like to buy Inuit sculptures as great mementos for their houses or as very distinct presents for others. Assuming that the objective is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a cheap traveler imitation, the question arises on how does one differentiate the real thing from the fakes?

It would be pretty frustrating to bring home a piece just to discover later on that it isn't authentic and even made in Canada. If one is lucky enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic art work, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more cautious in other places in Canada, especially in tourist 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 sold.

The most safe locations to look for Inuit sculptures to make sure credibility are constantly the reliable galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have advertisements in the city tourist guides discovered in hotels.

Reliable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted totally to Inuit art. These galleries will typically be located in the downtown tourist areas of significant cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and maybe Native art however none of the other typical tourist mementos such as t-shirts or postcards . These galleries will have just genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with imitations or phonies . Just to be even safer, make sure that the piece you are interested in includes 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. Be mindful that an unsigned piece may still be undoubtedly genuine.

Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you could shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now respectable online galleries that likewise specialize in genuine Inuit art.

Some tourist shops do bring genuine Inuit art as well as Continued the other touristy souvenirs in order to cater to all types of travelers. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore 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 exactly like it.

This can be a real gray location to those unknown with genuine Inuit art. If a seller claims that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the official Igloo tag that comes with it which will have details on the artist, place where it was made and the year it was carved. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are usually kept in a separate ( maybe even locked) shelf within the store.


Considering that Inuit art has actually been getting more and more global exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art type at museums and More Help 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 it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece acquired from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Reputable Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted completely 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 shop and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.