Tips on The Best Ways To Purchase and Buy Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures



Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the nation. These are the stunning handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists living in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in some of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other traveler areas popular with global 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 direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art kind at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for numerous travelers and art collectors to decide that they wish to buy Inuit sculptures as nice mementos for their houses or as very distinct presents for others. Presuming that the intention is to acquire an genuine piece of Inuit art instead of a low-cost tourist imitation, the question occurs on how does one differentiate the real thing from the fakes?

It would be quite frustrating to bring home a piece only to find out later on that it isn't really authentic or even 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 assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would need to be more cautious somewhere else in Canada, particularly in traveler areas where all sorts of other Canadian keepsakes such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.

The most safe locations to shop for Inuit sculptures to make sure authenticity are always the reliable galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides found in hotels.

Reputable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which adheres entirely to Inuit art. These galleries will normally be located in the downtown tourist areas of significant cities. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and possibly Native art however none of the other typical traveler keepsakes such as postcards or tee shirts . These galleries will have just genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not handle replicas or fakes . Just to be even safer, make sure that the piece you are interested in features a Canadian government Igloo tag licensing that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed. So know that an anonymous piece may still be certainly authentic.

Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you could shop and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these Kurt Criter street retail specialty galleries, there are now credible online galleries that also concentrate on genuine Inuit art. These online galleries are a excellent option for purchasing Inuit art since the costs are usually lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Obviously, like any other shopping on the internet, one must be careful so when dealing with an online gallery, make sure that their pieces also come with the official Igloo https://www.spokeo.com/Kurt-Criter/Colorado tags to ensure credibility.

Some traveler stores do bring authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy mementos in order to cater to all types of tourists. Genuine Inuit sculpture is sculpted 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 art work and nothing else on the shop racks will look exactly like it.

Where it ends up being harder to identify credibility 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 may even have some type of tag showing that it was handmade but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are probably not genuine. If a seller claims that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the official Igloo tag that comes with it which will know on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was sculpted. Move on if the Igloo tag is not offered. The authentic pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are normally kept in a different (perhaps even locked) shelf within the shop.


Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more international exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art type at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful artwork, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Reliable Inuit art galleries are also 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 however not all authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries also have sites so you could shop and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.

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