Collage 488

"At half past five Napoleon was riding on horseback to the village of Shevardino.

It was beginning to grow light, the sky cleared, only one cloud lay in the east. The abandoned campfires were going out in the faint light of morning.

To the right a dense, solitary cannon shot rang out, raced by, and died away amidst the general silence. Several minutes passed. A second, a third shot rang out; the air shook; a fourth, a fifth rang out nearby and solemnly somewhere to the right.

The sound of the first shots still hung in the air when others rang out, more and more, merging and interrupting each other.

Napoleon and his suite rode up to the Shevardino redoubt and dismounted. The game had begun." -p.788 in P/V

Lynn Waskelis
from page 231-232, volume 2 of original text
collage, copper leaf, wax, ink
made 4/29/11
Pevear/Volokhonsky translation page 787-788

Collage 487

I have become a little obsessed with making very textural pieces- impasto with paper. This piece pushes out in the middle, feeling a bit eviscerated. -Adrienne

Adrienne Wetmore
from page 229-230, volume 2 of original text
collage, ink, copper leaf
made 4/29/11
Pevear/Volokhonsky translation page 785-787

Collage 486

This is a very long passage where Tolstoy argues that military commanders really have no idea what is going on during battle.

"The soldiers of the French army went to kill Russian soldiers in the battle of Borodino not as the result of Napoleon's orders but by their own will. The whole army -- the French, the Italians, the Germans, the Poles, hungry, ragged and exhausted by the campaign -- on seeing the army had blocked their way to Moscow, felt that 'le vin est tire et qu'il fait le boire.' If Napoleon had now forbidden them to fight the Russians, they would have killed him and gone to fight the Russians, because it was necessary for them."

One way you could read this collage is one side represents events as they actually happened, and the other side represents historic interpretations. -- Lola

Lola Baltzell
from page 227-228, Volume 2 of original text
collage, twine, acrylic paint, ink
made 4/29/11
Pevear/Volokhonsky translation page 784-785

Collage 485

Lola

Lucy

Sometimes we get mixed up in the studio. Inevitably we lose a page of the original text which causes frantic casting about to locate it. One time I while Mark was photographing a stack of them I realized that I didn't use any Russian text at all -- which is one of our cardinal rules. Other times we somehow make two collages from the same page of original text. That's what happened here. Since I'm not sure which is the "real" collage #485, I'll post both! -- Lola

from page 225-226, volume 2 of original text
collage, ink, copper leaf
made 4/29/11
Pevear/Volokhonsky translation page 782-784

Collage 484

Emma Rhodes
from page 223-224, Volume 2 of original text
collage
made 4/22/11
Pevear/Volokhonsky translation page 780-782

Collage 483

This passage is about the "battle plan" that wasn't, and never could be.

"This disposition, drawn up quite vaguely and confusedly -- if one allows oneself to consider Napoleon's instructions without religious awe or his genius -- contained four points, four instructions. Not one of these instructions was or could be carried out."

The four vertical black lines are Napoleon's instructions which were never carried out. The red? blood. -- Lola

Lola Baltzell
from page 221-222, Volume 2 of original text
collage, ink
made 4/22/11
Pevear/Volokhonsky translation page 779-780

Collage 482

In this piece I used a poem entitled "The Little Harebell". I am not sure of it's origins. The book magically appeared in the studio like many of our materials. It has kind of a French feel. This passage describes Napoleon as he bathes. Tolstoy gives a rather unflattering description: "...snorting and grunting, he turned now his fat back, now his hairy, fat chest under the brush with which the valet was rubbing his body..." -- Lola

Lola Baltzell
from page 219-220, Volume 2 of original text
collage, ink
made 4/22/11
Pevear/Volokhonsky translation page 777-779