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PRINT -HUMBACK WHALE AND SPINNER DOLPHINS- PUBLISHER PROOF 4/20

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Richard Ellis

Subcollections

Overview

Framed commercial lithograph of blue-toned humpback whale swimming with a pod of 13 striped dolphins

Historical information

Lithograph accompanying a 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. Accompanying publisher proof.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-128-RE1999.442

Item type

Themes

Material

Width

570 mm

Height or length

445 mm

Depth

15 mm

Inscriptions and markings

Publisher Proof 4/20

Verso: HUMPBACK WHALE AND SPINNER DOLPHNS (Label - Mill Point Press Inc)
The humpback whale, which gets its name from its habit of arching its back when it dives, can be seen off New England coasts on the "whale-watching" expeditions out of Boston, Provincetown and Gloucester. This 45-foot-long baleen whale is the only whale that "sings", its haunting sounds can be heard on the best-selling record ever made of a wild animal's vocalizations. From a population that once numbered in the hundreds of thousands, there are now only about 5,000 of these whales left. They breed and give birth in the warm waters of the Hawaiian islands. This painting shows a humpback accompanied by a school of Hawaiian spinner dolphins. The Hawaiian humpback population migrates to southeast Alaska to feed, and the New England humpbacks winter in the Caribbean. Humpbacks are considered an endangered species.
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

Marine Mammals

Place made

United States

Primary significance criteria

Artistic or aesthetic significance

Scientific or research significance

Comparative significance criteria