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Albany's Historic Whaling Station > Records

PAINTING - ARCH BEAKED WHALE

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Richard Ellis

c. 1975

Subcollections

Richard Ellis Collection

Overview

Painting of arch beaked whale, black with double-beaked white snout and many striations on the body, gouache on blue card, framed and mounted with inscription (71).

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

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-128-RE1999.338

Item type

Themes

Material

Width

410 mm

Height or length

440 mm

Depth

15 mm

Weight

1.52

Inscriptions and markings

ARCH-BEAKED WHALE (Mesoplodon carlhubbsi)
Named for famous California ichthyologist Carl Hubbs, this rare beaked whale is know only from the North Pacific, and has stranded in California, Washington, British Columbia, and Japan. It is one of the "saber-toothed" whales, where the males have a pair of very large, flattened teeth in the lower jaws. This species has never beeen recorded alive, what little information we have about it comes from the observation of stranded animals.

Verso: Smithsonian label checklist # 71 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

Albany's Historic Whaling Station

Smithsonian Institution

Place made

United States

Year

Primary significance criteria

Artistic or aesthetic significance

Scientific or research significance

Comparative significance criteria

Object’s condition or completeness

Rare or representative

Well provenanced

Last modified

Thursday, 16 October, 2025

Completeness

100

Copyright and Reference

Copyright and Reference

Copyright category

Other

Permissions

Reproduction or publication with Albany’s Historic Whaling Station permission only.

Copyright holder

Albany's Historic Whaling Station

Albany's Historic Whaling Station

Albany's Historic Whaling Station

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