William Balfour Ker (July 25, 1877 – October 20, 1918) also known simply as Balfour Ker, and sometimes written Balfour-Ker was a Canadian-American artist whose paintings appeared in popular magazines such as Life and The Delineator, and were widely reproduced in postcards and posters. A declared socialist, some of his most popular work depicts issues of class struggle and poverty. His work also appeared in advertisements for Liberty bonds and war savings stamps during World War I.
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Early life
William Balfour Ker was born in Dunnville, Ontario, Canada on July 25, 1877. He had Scottish ancestry. His mother, Lily Florence Bell Ker, was first cousin of the inventor Alexander Graham Bell, and his father, William Ker, was a Scottish businessman and banker. The family moved to the United States in 1880, where Ker was later naturalised. He had two brothers who survived him. Ker was raised in North Yakima, Washington, and at age 18 studied law at George Washington University and began attending evening classes in illustration. The Yakima Herald reported that by February 1896 he was a reporter for the Washington, D. C. Daily Post, and by December 1896 was studying art in Paris. He ended up as an artist in New York City.
Career
Ker painted covers for Life magazine, including Thanksgiving and Christmas issues. Some of his illustrations for Life were published as postcards by the Detroit Publishing Company.