James Vinton Stowell graduated from the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (later, Parsons The New School for Design) in 1917 with an Advertising Design degree, and was employed by the school as a trade representive through the 1918-1919 academic year. The subject of the pencil sketch, titled "Portrait of 'Our Mr. Baker'," is Harry B. Baker, who taught life drawing at the school from 1915 until his death in 1941.