Who was Ernest Hamlin Baker?

 

Early Life (1889-1910)

Ernest Hamlin Baker was born in rural Essex County, New York, in 1889 to Clarence Hamlin Baker and Martha Jane (Roberts) Baker. He grew up in a modest house on Church Street in Poughkeepsie, where his father supported the family (wife Martha, sons Irving and Ernest, as well as his parents) on his pay as a shirt manufacturer. While Baker was a child, his father was active in the Prohibition Party, which advocated for civil service reform, suffrage for all regardless of sex or race, and protections for workers.  In fact, the Party’s opposition to alcohol was not on moral grounds; instead, it stemmed from the desire to decrease the impacts of alcohol abuse, such as poor health, domestic abuse, and poverty.

After graduating from high school in 1903 at age 14, Baker went to work alongside his father at a shirt factory. At age 17, he took a correspondence course in drawing, and in 1906 Baker, inspired by editorial cartoonist Thomas Nast, got a position as an editorial cartoonist with The Evening Star, a Democratic-leaning Poughkeepsie newspaper. He produced more than 100 political cartoons for the paper during his tenure there, often lampooning local Republican politicians and officials. 

Ernest Hamlin Baker, aged 24, then a Junior at Colgate University. 1913 Salmagundi (yearbook), Colgate University.

College Years (1910-1914)

In 1910, Baker enrolled at Colgate University at the encouragement of his brother Irving, who also attended the college. Baker was 21 years old when he started college. At the time, it was uncommon to attend college: only about 3% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 enrolled in college, compared to about 40% today. Baker paid for his education working odd jobs and selling caricatures of professors to his fellow students for 25 cents (equivalent to about $7 now). Baker was a prolific cartoonist and illustrator during his college years, making illustrations for the Colgate newspaper and yearbook. (These yearbooks have been digitized and can be viewed through the Colgate University Library’s digital collections). In addition to working to pay his expenses, Baker had an extremely active college career, participating in athletics, fraternities, and social clubs; he even served as class president. According to Baker’s junior yearbook profile, his ambition was to “[obtain] all the honors in college,” and his fellow students “found [him] deep in study every day.” Baker clearly had a wellspring of energy and a keen interest in his academic pursuits. 

In 1912, Baker met Ernestine Pendorf, a fellow native New Yorker and a student at Syracuse University. That summer they both worked at Lake Placid, Ernestine as a waitress and Ernest as a boatman. The following summer they were married, even though both still had one year of college left. 

A view of a dock on Lake Placid in 1912. Ernest worked as a boatman and Ernestine as a waitress at an inn on Lake Placid during the summer of 1912. panoramic photograph collection, Library of Congress.

 

One of dozens (and possibly hundreds) of Baker’s illustrations for his college yearbook. Baker was developing his detailed style, influenced by editorial cartoonist Thomas Nast. Salmagundi (yearbook), Colgate University.

 

Ernestine Pendorf Baker, Ernest Hamlin Baker’s wife. Ernestine was a graduate of Syracuse University 1914 and sometimes served as a business partner on Ernest’s commissions. Baker Collection, South County History Center.

 

Move to New York & A Big Break (1914-1939)

A propaganda poster illustrated by Baker during World War I. prints and photographs division, Library of congress.

Following their 1914 graduations, Baker borrowed $500, and he and Ernestine moved to New York City. Baker briefly attended the Forty-second Street Industrial Art School, but dropped out after arguing with his instructors. He then worked as a freelance commercial artist, designing stamps and World War I propaganda posters, illustrating brochures, and creating designs for industrial clients. 

By 1930, the Bakers moved to Carmel, New York, but they kept a residence in New York City. Although Baker was still working from commission to commission, the couple seem to have been financially secure, as a live-in maid resided with Baker, Ernestine and their daughter Jean. After working in New York’s commercial art industry for years, Baker caught a break: publishing magnate Henry Luce tapped him to illustrate covers for a glitzy new business magazine, Fortune.

Luce, at the time the publisher and executive editor of Time magazine, became one of the most influential publishers of the 20th century, starting Life and Sports Illustrated among many other media ventures. Luce founded Fortune magazine in February 1929 with the ambition to create an upscale, lushly illustrated magazine that employed serious literary talents to focus on the world of business and industry. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 did not stop the new publication. Fortune, first published in February 1930, was a success. While other business and finance publications of the time were dry and scholarly, Fortune was printed in an oversized 11” x 14” format that featured artistic full-color covers and photography while giving a socio-political critique of issues related to business enterprise. 

Between 1931 and 1937, Baker illustrated nearly a dozen covers for Fortune. While his style and subjects varied, each cover focused on a specific aspect of the American economy. Through his cover work for Fortune, editorial cartooning, and his participation in the New York City arts scene of the 1920s and ‘30s, Baker developed a keen ability to depict American industry through his political lens, connecting his art to debates about capitalism, socialism, and worker’s rights. 

 

A 1935 Fortune magazine cover illustrated by Ernest Hamlin Baker. Baker experimented with different modernist styles in the 11 covers he illustrated for the magazine. baker Collection, South COunty History Center.

Henry Luce, an American publishing magnate of the first half of the 20th century. Luce published Fortune and Time magazines, which employed Baker for most of his career. prints and photographs division, Library of Congress.

 

Baker continued to work free-lance through the 1930s, but the Great Depression eventually impacted his financial situation. He mentioned money troubles in letters, and the family made concessions, including selling their New York apartment. However, Baker’s reputation and connections enabled him to find work throughout the Depression, including the commission to create a mural for a post office in Wakefield, Rhode Island. 

Baker, c. 1940, with fine paintbrush and magnifying glass, illustrating a cover of Time magazine in his signature photo-realistic, hyper-detailed style. Baker Collection, south county history center.

Post Mural Years (1939-1975)

In 1939, as the United States emerged from the Depression, publisher Henry Luce again hired Baker to illustrate covers, this time for Time magazine. Baker spent the rest of his career at Time and produced more than 300 illustrated covers, primarily portraits of influential figures, between 1940 and 1957.

Ernest and Ernestine Baker retired to Hendersonville, North Carolina in the early 1950s. After Ernestine’s death in 1972, Baker moved to Norton, Massachusetts, where died 3 years later at the age of 86.

Banner Image: Baker’s mural as published in LIFE Magazine, January 27, 1941

 



This exhibit is made possible through major funding support from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities. The Council seeds, supports, and strengthens public history, cultural heritage, civic education, and community engagement by and for all Rhode Islanders.