William Balfour Ker (July 25, 1877 – October 20, 1918) also known simply as Balfour Ker, and sometimes written Balfour-Ker[1] 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.

[3] His most notable, widely printed and reproduced piece[12] From the Depths was originally published in the 1906 book The Silent War by John Ames Mitchell.

[2] According to the LoC, it depicts:[11] a lavish social event in a large ballroom attended by the well-to-do; the party is disrupted when a fist erupts through the floor, beneath which are the struggling masses of the less fortunate who provide the foundation support on which the wealthy rest.Copies also circulated under the title The Hand of Fate,[3] and the background of the image includes "Discobolos and Venus of Melos, the two most familiar of all ancient statues, representing the decadent life of luxury.

"[12] The art historian Carolyn Haynes observes:[3] Ker clearly intended this painting to inflame class divisions between productive workers and the wealthy upper class, as represented by strong but exploited workers trapped beneath the floor and well-to-do dancers at a society ball... That such a work could be painted, published, and widely discussed suggests that class divisions in the Progressive Era were real and widespread.During the First World War, Balfour Ker also designed posters advertising United States government war savings stamps for the United States Treasury.

[3] They first lived in Greenwich Village, but after a period working in Paris, the marriage failed[3] and they divorced in 1910.

[15] Ker's second wife was Josephine Reeder Phillips, an American model,[3] whom he married in England in 1914.