Dora Collingwood
& Ernest Altounyan
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Ganed Dora, plentyn cyntaf Dora a Gershom, yn 1886.
Cafodd ei haddysgu gartref yn bennaf gan ei mam. Aeth ymlaen i fynychu Ysgol Gelf Cope ac yn ddiweddarach astudiodd Gelf Gain ym Mhrifysgol Reading, lle’r oedd ei thad hefyd yn darlithio. Treuliodd Dora amser yn astudio paentio ym Mharis, a daeth, gan ddilyn yng nghamre ei rhieni, yn artist llwyddiannus. Yn 1916 priododd Dora â’r meddyg nodedig Ernest Altounyan (1890-1962). Ar ôl y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf, symudasant i Aleppo, Syria, lle’r oedd tad Ernest yn rhedeg ysbyty. Wedi’i greu ar lun ysbytai ym Mhrydain, roedd Ysbyty Altounyan yn cael ei ystyried fel arloeswr ar y pryd, yn rhannol oherwydd yr oedd yn cynnig ysgol hyfforddi i gefnogi a hyfforddi dinasyddion Lebanaidd a Syriaidd i ymarfer meddygaeth Orllewinol. Gweithiodd Ernest yn yr ysbyty, a byddent ill dau’n weithgar iawn wrth gynorthwyo â sefyllfa’r ffoaduriaid, yn enwedig mewn ymateb i hil-laddiad yr Armeniaid (1915-23). |
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Dora, Gershom and Dorrie’s first child, was born in 1886.
She was primarily educated at home by her mother. She went on to attend Cope’s School of Art and later studied Fine Art at the University of Reading, where her father also lectured. Dora spent time studying painting in Paris and, following in her parents’ footsteps, she became a successful artist. In 1916, Dora married the notable medical doctor, Ernest Altounyan (1890-1962). After the First World War, they moved to Aleppo, Syria, where Ernest’s father ran a hospital. Fashioned on contemporary hospitals in Britain, the Altounyan Hospital was widely regarded as being a pioneer of its time, partly because it offered a dedicated training school to support and train Syrian and Lebanese citizens in the practice of Western medicine. Ernest worked in the hospital, and they were both heavily engaged with assisting the refugee effort, particularly in response to the Armenian Genocide (1915-23). |
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Ysbyty Altounyan yn Aleppo, gan Dora Altounyan née Collingwood, rhwng 1918 a 1958.
Ar ôl y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf, adleolodd Dora gyda’r gŵr Ernest i Aleppo, Syria. Sefydlodd tad Ernest, Dr Assadour Aram Altounyan, ysbyty arloesol yn Aleppo yn 1884, ac yn 1918, dychwelodd Ernest i weithio yno fel meddyg. Roedd gan Dora a’i theulu ran fawr ym musnes yr ysbyty a gofalu am ei gleifion. Paentiad a atgynhyrchwyd gyda chaniatâd caredig y teulu Altounyan. |
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The Altounyan Hospital in Aleppo, by Dora Altounyan, née Collingwood, between 1918 and 1958.
After the First World War, Dora relocated with her husband Ernest to Aleppo, Syria. Ernest’s father, Dr Assadour Aram Altounyan, founded this pioneering hospital in Aleppo in 1884, and in 1918 Ernest returned to work there as medical doctor. Dora and her family remained heavily involved with the business of the hospital and the care of its patients. Painting reproduced by kind permission of the Altounyan family. |
Llythyr o Aleppo, 1922.
Ysgrifennwyd y llythyr hwn gan Ursula Collingwood tra oedd yn ymweld â’i chwaer, Dora, yn Aleppo. Mae Ursula, nyrs hyfforddedig, yn sôn am eu phrofiad yn Ysbyty Altounyan tra oedd yn gofalu am fewnlifiad anferthol o ffoaduriaid i Syria o Hil-laddiad yr Armeniaid. Yn ystod yr Hil-laddiad, lladdwyd mwy na miliwn o Armeniaid, a dadleolwyd cannoedd a filoedd. Yn y llythyr hwn, mae Ursula yn dweud wrth ei mam bod “30,000 wedi cyrraedd yn ystod y pythefnos diwethaf [a] rhagor i ddod”. Dywed wrth ei mam fod “eu cyflwr y tu hwnt i ddisgrifio” ac yn pwysleisio bod angen codi arian i’w helpu. |
A letter from Aleppo, 1922.
This letter was written by Ursula Collingwood while visiting her sister, Dora, in Aleppo. Ursula, a trained nurse, recounts her experience in the Altounyan Hospital while caring for a huge influx of refugees fleeing to Syria from the Armenian Genocide. During the Genocide, more than a million Armenians were killed, and hundreds of thousands were displaced. In this letter, Ursula informs her mother that ‘30,000 arrived in the last fortnight or three weeks [and] more to follow’. She tells her mother that ‘their condition is beyond description’ and stresses that money must be raised to help them. |
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Llyfr braslunio, dechrau'r 20fed ganrif.
Roedd Dora’n artist ac yn dogfennu llawer o’r llefydd y bu’n byw ynddynt neu ymweld â nhw yn y Dwyrain Canol drwy fraslunio a phaentio tirweddau hardd ac astudio adeiladu. Mae gennym lawer o’i llyfrau braslunio cynnar yn Archif Collingwood. Dyma ond un enghraifft o 1902 sy’n dangos datblygiad ei harddull gelfyddydol. |
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Sketchbook, early 20th century.
Dora was an artist, and documented many of the places she lived and visited in the Middle East by sketching and painting beautiful landscapes and building studies. We have many of her early sketchbooks in the Collingwood Archive. This is just one example from 1902 showing the development of her artistic style. |
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Swallows and Amazons a phlant y teulu Altounyan, gan Arthur Ransome, 1920/30s.
Roedd Arthur Ransome, awdur y llyfr plant bythol boblogaidd Swallows and Amazons yn gyfrinachydd agos i Dora a’i chwaer Barbara fel ei gilydd. Cynigiodd briodi â’r ddwy chwaer, ond fe’i gwrthodwyd ddwywaith. Fodd bynnag, nid oedd hyn yn mennu ar eu cyfeillgarwch. Mae'r archif yn cynnwys llawer o lythyrau gan Arthur Ransome i Dora, ac fe wnaeth hyd yn oed seilio’r teulu Walker yn Swallows and Amazons ar Dora ac Ernest a’u plant. Dyma Arthur Ransome yn treulio ychydig amser gyda rhai o blant y teulu Altounyan yn Aleppo. Atgynhyrchwyd y llun trwy garedigrwydd Casgliadau Arbennig Prifysgol Leeds. |
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Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons and the Altounyan children, 1920s/30s.
Arthur Ransome, author of the ever-popular children’s book Swallows and Amazons, was a close confidant of both Dora and her sister Barbara. He proposed marriage to both sisters but was twice refused. However, this did not spoil their friendship. The archive contains many letters from Arthur Ransome to Dora, and he even based the Walker family in Swallows and Amazons on Dora and Ernest’s children. Here is Arthur Ransome spending time with some of the Altounyan children in Aleppo. Photograph reproduced courtesy of Leeds University Special Collections. |