Albany's Historic Whaling Station > Records

PAINTING - PYGMY RIGHT WHALE

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Richard Ellis

c. 1985

Subcollections

Overview

Painting of black-grey whale with lighter grey-blue underbelly and distinctive curved mouth, gouache on blue card, framed and mounted with inscription (53.)

Historical information

Collection of 106 of paintings by Richard Ellis that were selected by the Smithsonian Institution to form a traveling exhibit of the marine mammals of the world. The collection was purchased by Perth businessman Kevin Parry in 1985 and donated to Whale World, now known as Albany's Historic Whaling Station.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-128-RE1999.333

Item type

Material

Width

410 mm

Height or length

440 mm

Depth

15 mm

Weight

1.52 kg

Inscriptions and markings

PYGMY RIGHT WHALE ( Caparea marginata)
This species is the smallest baleen whale and one of the most unfamiliar cetaceans. Scientific literature records fewer than 100 specimens of these animals, and almost nothing is know of its natural history. It is known only from the southern hemisphere, having been reported from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and various islands in the Southern Ocean, including the Falklands. The pygmy right reaches a length of 21 feet, and has relatively long baleen plates (similar to those of the right whale and the bowheads), but it has a dorsal fin, while these other large whales do not.
53.

Verso: Smithsonian label checklist # 53 Packing case # 4, AWHS accession number

Contextual information

The paintings represent a body of work by well-known American marine conservationist, author, artist and natural historian Richard Ellis (1938-2024).

Keywords

Richard Ellis

Albany's Historic Whaling Station

Smithsonian Institution

Marine Mammals

Place made

United States

Year

c. 1985

Statement of significance

Rarity:106 of these paintings were selected by the Smithsonian Institution to form a traveling exhibit of the marine mammals of the world. All these paintings were bought by Kevin Parry and donated to Whale World

Primary significance criteria

Artistic or aesthetic significance

Scientific or research significance

Comparative significance criteria

Object’s condition or completeness

Rare or representative

Well provenanced

Public location

Colin Green Gallery

Google Maps search term / URL

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Albany's+Historic+Whaling+Station

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