Lewis Christopher Edward Baumer (8 August 1870 – 25 October 1963)[1] was best known as an English cartoonist who worked for more than fifty years for the British magazine Punch, from 1897. He was also a portrait and still life painter, pastellist, magazine and (mostly children's) book illustrator. His legacy includes many portraits, advertisements and still life paintings in the first half of the 20th century. He contributed to the revival of the tradition of portraiture using pastels, and was accomplished in many other media including oils, watercolours, gouache, and etching.
Baumer was born at St John's Wood, London, England, and educated at University College School, Gower Street. He studied first in 1887 at the St John's Wood Art School under A. A. Calderon, then at the Royal Academy of Arts July 1890 to July 1895, and at the Royal College of Art. His first drawings appeared in the Pall Mall magazine in 1893; in 1897, his first cartoon in Punch appeared.[2] In 1921, he was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. His work was part of the art competitions at the 1928 Summer Olympics and the 1932 Summer Olympics.[3]