Writers Unbound: The Photography of Jill Krementz

About the Artist

Jill Krementz is one of America's most acclaimed photojournalists and is considered one of the great author portraitists of the century. She has photographed nearly 2,000 authors and 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."

She began her career as a photojournalist at Show, and, in 1964, became the first female photographer hired by the New York Herald Tribune. While working at the Trib she covered some of the great stories of our times, including the race riots in Harlem, Malcolm X's funeral, the murder of the Freedom Fighters in Mississippi, the Paris fashion collections, the Andy Warhol parties, Winston Churchill's funeral, Rudolf Nureyev's debut at the Metropolitan, and the Beatles concert at Shea Stadium. She took a leave of absence to freelance in Vietnam and her work there resulted in The Face of South Vietnam. Later, as a correspondent for Time magazine and a photographer for Life magazine, her assignments included trips on the campaign trail with vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro and to Israel for a story on defense minister Ariel Sharon.

In 1970, Krementz devoted herself to photographing authors. "I don't consider myself just a photographer; I'm a photojournalist," she says. "I'm not just capturing the looks on my subjects' faces - the portrait - but something of their lifestyles: the places where they work, their favorite objects, their hobbies. I often let my subjects choose the locations and circumstances they feel best project their character. I want them to feel that they will look the way they would like to look, the way they see themselves.

"I try to see beyond the moment and into the subject. I want to show the private side of people without violating their privacy."

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.

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