Albany's Historic Whaling Station > Records

PAINTINGS - (a) DUSKY DOLPHIN & (b) PEALE'S DOLPHIN

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Richard Ellis

c. 1975

Subcollections

Overview

2 paintings in single framed work (a) Dusky Dolphin - Bluish-black colored with white underside, dark patches around the eyes, short beak, and large triangular shaped dorsal fin (21) (b) Peale's Dolphin - stocky, dark grey-to-black colored with light grey markings and white underbelly and triangular shaped dorsal fin (22); gouache on blue card, framed and mounted with inscription

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.
These paintings have been reframed & were originally with RE.1999.315.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-128-RE1999.445a.b

Item type

Material

Width

810 mm

Height or length

440 mm

Depth

15 mm

Inscriptions and markings

DUSKY DOLPHIN (Lagenorhynchus obscurus)
Generally similar to the north Pacific white-sided dolphin, the dusky is found throughout the southern ocean, from South Africa to Australia to southern South America. The dusky dolphin differs from the white-sided in that its dorsal fin is not so sharply hooked - or two-toned. Duskies are commonly exhibited at oceanariums in new Zealand. 21.

Peale's Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus australis)
Also know as the blackchin dolphin, this little-known species has been encountered only in the coastal waters of southern South America, from Chile to southern Argentina. It is the only "lag: with an all-black face. Peale's dolphin gets it s common name from Titian Ramsay Peale, who described the first specimen in 1848 from a sighting off the coast of Patagonia. The name australis simply means "southern'. 22.

NB.These paintings have been reframed & were originally with RE.1999.315

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

Smithsonian Institution

Albany's Historic Whaling Station

Marine Mammals

Place made

United States

Year

c. 1975