- It makes the duality of painting/photography immediately visually perceptible, even unconsciously.
- The black-walled chambers recall the process of creating photographs in a dark room.
- Because the photographs are usually smaller than the paintings, the intimate chamber space fits them much better than a large gallery space would. It encourages you to get up close to the sometimes minuscule photos. (Imagine the photographs simply hanging on a wall next to the much larger paintings: both genres would look out of place!)
- This intimate way of viewing the photos, especially the early portraits, imitates the way some of them at least were seen in their heyday—as tiny precious objects.
Overall I was hugely impressed by the effective presentation of such a complex subject and such a challenge in terms of display. You're in for a treat if you get a chance to go; it's open through September 9, 2018.