Albany's Historic Whaling Station > Records

PAINTING - DUGONG

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Richard Ellis

c. 1975

Subcollections

Overview

Painting of grey, grey brown bulbous animal with a flattened fluked tail, no dorsal fin, a paddle like flipper and distinctive head shape with flattened snout, gouache on blue card, framed and mounted with inscription (102.)

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-RE1999.342

Item type

Themes

Material

Width

410 mm

Height or length

440 mm

Depth

15 mm

Weight

1.52 kg

Inscriptions and markings

DUGONG (Dugong dugon)
The dugong is a widely distributed but uncommon animal of the east African and Indo-Pacific coasts. Like their close relatives the manatees, dugongs are vegetarians, grazing cow-like on the bottom, and then surfacing slowly to breathe. Sirenians (the dugongs and manatees) spend their entire lives in water and are unable to move on land. The manatee has a rounded, paddle-like tail, while the dugong has flukes, very much like those of a whale or dolphin. These animals are hunted throughout their range for their meat, oil, and blubber, and although there are very few accurate figures on total population, they are hunted so heavily that they are considered an endangered species.
102.

Verso: Smithsonian label checklist # 102 Packing case # 5, 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. 1975