Through January 30, the second floor gallery of The Museum Center at The Mark Twain House & Museum will be filled with the work of the photojournalist Jill Krementz, who has spent a career capturing on film personal insights into writers at home, at play, and, often, toiling alone at their desks.

The exhibition, “Writers Unbound: The Photography of Jill Krementz,” brings together the stunning black-and-white photographs of more than 60 famed authors at work, including literary giants John Updike and Tennessee Williams; popular authors such as Stephen King, Amy Tan and Toni Morrison; and authors of children’s works such as Dr Seuss, E.B. White and Maurice Sendak.

The exhibition, from the photographer’s personal collection, includes images that have not been published previously.

According to Debra Petke, deputy director and Beatrice Fox Auerbach chief curator, and the curator of “Writers Unbound,” Ms Krementz’s career as a photographer, journalist and author has given her access to the most renowned writers and luminaries of the 20th Century.

“Jill has enjoyed unprecedented access to the leading writers of the day, often documenting them at their desks in the process of writing,” says Ms Petke. “The resulting photographs offer a unique and intimate insight into the creative processes of these preeminent writers.”

Ms Krementz is married to author Kurt Vonnegut. They have a daughter, Lily.

Jill Krementz, who is considered one of the great author portraitists of the century, has photographed nearly 2,000 authors. Her work displays a passionate and unique visual style that demonstrates, according to John Updike, one of her admiring subjects, “people at peace in their settings, their activity, and their poses.”

“I don’t consider myself a photographer,” Ms Krementz has said. “I am an ecologist, really, since I generally photograph people in their own natural environment. I try to see beyond the moment and into the subject. I want to show the private side of people without violating their privacy. And without being too intrusive.”

As a voracious reader, film- and museum-goer, Ms Krementz seldom photographs any writer whose work she doesn’t also admire, notes Ms Petke notes.

“Jill brings to her sessions a familiarity with, and appreciation for, her subject’s work.

“Perhaps because of this empathetic predisposition, she can invade a writer’s home turf and document his or her life and inner sanctums in subtle ways, capturing Walter Mosely writing longhand, a cat peering from the lap of Joyce Carol Oates, or a dog skulking beneath Stephen King’s chair,” points out Ms Petke. John Updike says Ms Krementz captures “an ordering and a purging and a bringing into the light that which had been hidden an hour before.”

Her books demonstrate the breadth of her work. In addition to portraits of writers in The Writer’s Desk, The Jewish Writer, and others, she created best-selling photo-essay books for children, including the Very Young and How It series.

The Mark Twain House & Museum is open daily from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm (and until 8 pm the first Thursday of each month). Call 860-247-0998 for  additional information.