Artist William B. Montgomery is known in the international herpetological community for his reptile etchings and lithographs that combine exact scientific depiction with the animal’s innate sensuous beauty. Based on the tradition of the early natural history engravings, these scientifically accurate, yet artistically exquisite etchings and lithographs have been commissioned for a variety of publications. These works include a Canebrake Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus atricaudatus) for Biology of the Pitvipers (Selva, 1992); a Banded Rock Rattlesnake (Crotalus lepidus klauberi) for the latest reprint of Klauber’s monumental work, Rattlesnakes (University of California Press, 1997);  a European adder (Vipera b. berus) for the book, Biology of the Vipers (Eagle Mountain Publishing, LLC); and a Red Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus ruber) for the book, The Biology of the Rattlesnakes (Loma Linda University Press, 2008).

 

All of Montgomery’s prints are hand-pulled etchings and lithographs on high quality, acid-free paper. These are not reproductions; the images are drawn directly onto copper plates or lithographic stones so each of the hand-pulled prints is considered an original. Hand colored prints are individually colored by the artist using high quality, light fast watercolors.

 

Born and raised in the piney woods of East Texas, Montgomery studied art at the Kansas City Art Institute and the University of New Mexico. He currently lives east of Austin on 17 acres of land with his wife, artist and writer Margie Crisp, several dogs, a few chickens and some reptiles. A full time painter and printmaker, he occasionally takes time out from his studio in the historic section of Elgin to search out and photograph reptiles and amphibians in the U.S., Mexico, Central and South America, Europe and Asia.