Last Scrimshanders Face Art's Extinction

As Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" marks its 175th anniversary, the art of scrimshaw, considered one of America's oldest homegrown art forms, is facing its final chapter. Scrimshanders, artists who etch intricate scenes onto whale teeth and bones, are grappling with the legacy of their craft as the materials become exceedingly scarce.

This art form originated with sailors during the 19th-century whaling industry, a period that once made New Bedford, Massachusetts, North America's wealthiest city. The carvings provide an intimate, often brutal, glimpse into whaling culture, depicting everything from perilous hunts to poignant scenes of faraway families. These works also serve as a stark reminder of the human cost, with memorials in New Bedford's Seamen's Bethel commemorating sailors lost at sea.

The decline of whaling, accelerated by the discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania in 1859, meant the end of an era. While scrimshaw persisted due to a surplus of materials, its resurgence in the 1960s was curtailed by the 1973 Endangered Species Act, which severely restricted the trade of marine ivory. Today, artists like Jade Gotauco and Michael Vienneau rely on pre-act supplies, facing escalating costs and the art's impending disappearance.

Some artists have experimented with alternative materials like cow bones or mammoth tusks, but purists argue these do not constitute true scrimshaw, which is intrinsically linked to historical whaling byproducts. For many, including Gotauco, this signifies the art's natural conclusion, a poignant end to a tradition that honors both whales and the whalers who pursued them.