In the Beginning: Ernest Hamlin Baker

Ernest Hamlin Baker (1889-1975) is best known for the many cover illustration he made for Time Magazine 1940-1957.   I first wrote about him here.

A fairly lengthy biographical article about Baker is here.  Among other things, it mentions his time as a student at Colgate University, where he was a Big Man on Campus.

I know it's usually unfair to present artist's early work, but I'll do so now because I happened to come across some illustrations Baker made for the 1912 edition of Salmagundi, the school's yearbook.   Moreover, Baker entered college a few years older than normal, so he was more mature than the usual yearbook's student artist.

(The link has him entering Colgate at age 21, but that does not seem to jibe with the yearbook, whose content suggests he might have been 19 or 20.)

Gallery

An example of Baker's Time cover portraits.

His yearbook entry.  The first set of Greek letters indicates that he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

Introductory art for the yearbook's Freshman (entry) class section.   Following are illustrations for other classes and some college activities. 

Although Baker's cartoon style in in line with the fashion of the day, hints of his carefully-drawn later work can be seen here.