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Albany's Historic Whaling Station > Records

PAINTING - STEJNEGER`S BEAKED WHALE

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Richard Ellis

c. 1985

Subcollections

Richard Ellis Collection

Overview

Painting of heavily scratched black whale with small triangular dorsal fin, and protruding tooth at mouth, gouache on blue card, framed and mounted with inscription (73).

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-RE1999.356

Item type

Material

Width

410 mm

Height or length

440 mm

Depth

15 mm

Weight

1.52 kg

Inscriptions and markings

STEJNEGER'S BEAKED WHALE (Mesoplodon stejnegeri)

Pronounced STY-ne-ger's, this whale was named for Leonhard Stejneger, the scientist who found the first skull on Bering Island in 1883. The "tusks" of this saber-toothed beaked whale may be over five inches in height, and - as with all Mesoplodons - they appear only in the males. In the few know specimens the large teeth have a mysterious groove on the leading edge- but we don't know why.
73.

Verso: Smithsonian label checklist # 73 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.

Albany's Historic Whaling Station

Albany's Historic Whaling Station

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Painting of heavily scratched black whale with small triangular dorsal fin, and protruding tooth at mouth, on blue card with inscription

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