New offerings at PAM in the Photo Gallery

I was excited to finally see something new hanging in the 2nd floor gallery devoted to photography at PAM.  A very large and wonderful collection of portrait work that included these two pieces.  Called "Likeness" the themed exposition borrows it's name from a 19th century term for a portrait.  It  was wonderful to look at the Yousuf  Karsh photo of Robert Frost and his dog.  The print on display was surprising for its display of a zonal range almost entirely within the values of V-0 (Middle gray to total black) with only a few small areas that I thought approached Zone VII+ (light skin values; light gray object to highest values in which some texture is discernible.) from the light hitting the subject from the left. Perhaps the light showing on the prints in the photo gallery are intentionally of low wattage in order to preserve the work because I don't think the work would have been printed to be displayed under such low light because it would appear a little too dark.  The Irving Penn portrait of Collette has always intrigued me where no light is placed on the eyes so they appear as just  dark pools.  This seems also the case with the Karsh photo of Robert Frost leaving the eyes in darkness but emphasizing the way the face forms around the eyes to catch the character of the face.