'Twixt the Cup and the Lip 1900 - 1907

Benedict Herzog made this small image 'Twixt the Cup and the Lip' with black ink on paper. It's all about mark-making and the build-up of tone; the grey is really luscious. You can sense him figuring it out as he goes, trying to get the light and darks right. The process feels very immediate, like he's thinking through the ink. Look at the woman holding the skull. See how the ink seems to almost pool in the shadows? It gives the image a real weight, a sense of the physical. You can imagine the texture of the paper, the way the ink might have bled or been blotted. This physical quality adds to the emotional impact, like the darkness is pressing in. Every mark feels deliberate, yet the overall effect is dreamy, as though the darkness is winning. It reminds me a little of Odilon Redon's prints, with their strange, symbolic imagery. But Herzog has a rawness, a directness, that's all his own. It embraces ambiguity.