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Albany's Historic Whaling Station > Records

PAINTING - COMMON DOPLHIN

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Richard Ellis

c. 1975

Subcollections

Richard Ellis Collection

Overview

Painting of patterned dolphin with dark grey/black upper body, white underbelly, and yellow, buff, and grey flank, a long, pointed beak, and tall, triangular dorsal fin, gouache on blue card, framed and mounted with inscription (16.)

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-RE1999.352

Item type

Themes

Material

Width

410 mm

Height or length

440 mm

Depth

15 mm

Weight

1.52 kg

Inscriptions and markings

COMMON DOLPHIN (Delphinus delphis)

While the bottlenose is the most well-known dolphin, Delphinus is smaller, with a much longer snout. It is brightly colored, with a complex pattern of stripes and patches. Reaching a length of 8 feet, this dolphin is renowned for its bow-riding and leaping activities, but is generally considered too delicate to do well in captivity.
16.

Verso: Smithsonian label checklist # 16 Packing case # 3, 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

Wednesday, 15 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.

Albany's Historic Whaling Station

Albany's Historic Whaling Station

Other items by Richard Ellis

Other items from Albany's Historic Whaling Station

Painting of a highly patterned dolphin with pointed beak, and triangular dorsal fin, on blue card with inscription.

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