Ernest Baker, born in 1889 in Rhode Island, was a self-taught illustrator. Most of his works were covers for Time Magazine, although he was responsible for eleven covers for Fortune Magazine between 1929 and 1941.Beginning in 1939, Baker produced over 300 covers for Time during his seventeen-year tenure with the magazine. He was described by Time publisher, Ralph Ingersoll, as an artist who could do anything. George Marshall, selected as Times Man of the Year in 1947, was one of Bakers most famous subjects.During the 1930s, Baker became involved in several WPA programs, one being “Activities of the Narragansett Planters”, a 1939 mural which is located in the Wakefield Post Office in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.