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.

Politically, he was a committed socialist, and this was often reflected in his art.
His most famous and most-reproduced (in the form of prints)) image was From the Depths, originally published in John Ames Mitchell's book The Silent War (1906).
Copies also circulated under the name The Hand of Fate.
One of the former prints is held by the United States' Library of Congress.
According to the LoC, it depicts:
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.

The People's History of Classics research project based at King's College London note that in the background of the image are:
Discobolos and Venus of Melos, the two most familiar of all ancient statues, representing the decadent life of luxury
The art historian Carolyn Haynes observes:
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.
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.
Politically, he was a committed socialist, and this was often reflected in his art. His most famous and most-reproduced (in the form of prints)) image was From the Depths, originally published in John Ames Mitchell's book The Silent War (1906). Copies also circulated under the name The Hand of Fate. One of the former prints is held by the United States' Library of Congress. According to the LoC, it depicts:
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.
The People's History of Classics research project based at King's College London note that in the background of the image are:
Discobolos and Venus of Melos, the two most familiar of all ancient statues, representing the decadent life of luxury
The art historian Carolyn Haynes observes:
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.
William Balfour Ker