Edith Mary “Dorrie” Collingwood (1857-1928)
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Yn 1883 priododd Gershom â chyd-artist, Edith Mary “Dorrie” Isaac. Er y cyfyngir crybwylliadau iddi mewn print i droednodiadau i’w gŵr, roedd hithau’n artist rhyfeddol. Roedd celf Dorrie yn fasnachol lwyddiannus yn ystod ei bywyd - yn fwy felly na’i gŵr, fe ymddengys, am taw hi oedd, yn ôl y sôn, enillydd cyflog y briodas. Roedd hi’n finiaturwr nodedig, gan arddangos ei gwaith yn eang Ardal y Llynnoedd a Llynnoedd.
Rhodd sylweddol arall Dorrie i’r byd celf oedd addysg ei phlant. Addysgodd hi ei phlant gartref hyd at oedran penodol. O ganlyniad, aeth tri o’i phedwar plant i weithio fel artistiaid llwyddiannus ac fe ddylanwadwyd yn fawr ar y pedwar ohonynt gan eu magwraeth artistig. Fel llawer o artistiaid o ferched, gwnaeth gyfraniad sylweddol ond heb ei lawn werthfawrogi na’i archwilio i hanes celf ar ddiwedd y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg a dechrau’r ugeinfed. |
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In 1883 Gershom married a fellow artist, Edith Mary “Dorrie” Isaac. Although published references to her are often confined to a footnote alongside her husband, she was in fact a remarkable artist. Dorrie’s art was commercially successful during her lifetime – much more so, it seems, than her husband’s, as she was purportedly the main breadwinner in the marriage. She was a noted miniaturist, and exhibited widely both in the Lake District and in London.
Dorrie’s other significant legacy to the art world was her children’s education. She actively home-schooled her children up to a certain age. As a result, three of her four children went on to work as successful artists and all four were greatly influenced by their artistic upbringing. Like many women artists, she made a significant but unexplored and underappreciated contribution to art history in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. |
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Peintiadau minaturaidd, diwedd y 19eg a dechrau’r 20fed ganrif.
Mae’r manylion manwl yn y paentiadau hyn yn dangos sgil Dorrie fel arlunydd dyfrlliw. Gweithiai’n aml ar waith comisiwn (paentio portreadau bychain, addurno ffaniau a blychau gemwaith, a hyd yn oed gynhyrchu cyfres o baneli blodau yn Wallington Hall yn Northumberland), ac roedd ei gwaith yn fasnachol lwyddiannus iawn yn ystod ei bywyd. Etholwyd Dorrie yn aelod o Gymdeithas y Miniaturwyr yn 1901. |
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Miniature paintings, late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The fine detail in these miniature paintings illustrate Dorrie’s skills as a watercolour artist. Often working on commission (painting miniature portraits, adorning fans and jewellery boxes, and even producing a series of flower panels at Wallington Hall in Northumberland), her work was highly commercially successful during her lifetime. Dorrie was elected a member of the Society of Miniaturists in 1901. |
Celfyddydwaith plant anodedig, 1890au. Mae’r addysg gelfyddydol a roddodd Dorrie i’w phlant yn amlwg yn y casgliad mawr o enghreifftiau o’u gwaith wedi eu gosod a’u hanodi yn Archif Collingwood. Daeth tri o’i phedwar plant yn artistiaid llwyddiannus. Dora fel arlunydd, Barbara fel cerflunydd, a daeth Ursula yn athrawes gelf yn ddiweddarach mewn bywyd ar ôl iddi weithio fel bydwraig am flynyddoedd. Hyd yn oed pan oedd yn athronydd, ysgrifennodd Robin am sut y gwnaeth dylanwadau artistig ei febyd ddylanwadu ar ei feddwl a’i yrfa. Children’s annotated artwork, 1890s. The artistic education Dorrie provided for her children is evident from the large collection of mounted and annotated examples of their artwork in the Collingwood Archive. Three of her four children became successful artists: Dora as a painter, Barbara as a sculptor, and Ursula became an art teacher in later life, after having worked for many years as a midwife. Even as a philosopher, Robin wrote about how the artistic influences of his upbringing shaped his thinking and career. |
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Cardiau post rwnig, 1883.
Gohebai Dorrie a Gershom yn aml pan oeddent yn canlyn ac mae Archif Collingwood yn cynnwys set gyflawn bron o’i llythyrau hi ato fe. Ymhlith rhai o'r enghreifftiau mwy diddorol mae’r cardiau post hyn a ysgrifennwyd gan ddefnyddio côd rwnig sy’n rhagflaenu defnydd Tolkien gan sawl degawd. Gan fod Robin Collingwood yn nabod Tolkien (roeddent ill dau’n Gymrodyr yng Ngholeg Penfro) mae’n bosib bod y côd Rwnig hwn wedi dylanwadu ar ei ddefnydd o Rwnau yn The Lord of the Rings. |
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Runic postcards, 1883.
Dorrie and Gershom often corresponded while they were courting and the Collingwood Archive contains an almost complete set of her letters to him. Among some of the more interesting examples are these postcards written using Runic code, which predate Tolkien’s use of Runes by several decades. As Robin Collingwood was an acquaintance of Tolkien (they were both fellows at Pembroke College) it is possible that this Runic code may have influenced his use of Runes in The Lord of the Rings. |