William Oberhardt was an American artist, portrait painter, lllustrator and sculptor. His illustration of Joseph Gurney Cannon

Joseph Gurney Cannon

Joseph Gurney Cannon was a United States politician from Illinois and leader of the Republican Party. Cannon served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1911, and historians generally consider him to be the most dominant Speaker in United States history, with such...

, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...

, appeared on the cover of the first edition of Time

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

magazine on 3 March 1923.

Oberhardt was born in Guttenberg, New Jersey

Guttenberg, New Jersey

Guttenberg , is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the town population was 11,176. Only four blocks wide, Guttenberg is one of the smallest municipalities in New Jersey and the most densely populated incorporated place in the...

 and studied at the National Academy of Design

National Academy of Design

The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...

 from 1897 to 1900, and then studied in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 with Carl von Marr

Carl von Marr

Carl von Marr , American painter, was born at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of an engraver, John Marr. He was the stepfather of Willy Messerschmitt....

 at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. He painted formal portraits in oil, but charcoal, crayons and lithographic crayon were his favorite mediums. He worked most of his career in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and lived in North Pelham, New York.

In the 1920s and '30s Oberhardt was among the best-known and most popular illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

s in the U.S.

Among his subjects were Presidents William H. Taft, Warren G. Harding

Warren G. Harding

Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...

 and Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...

; the inventor Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...

 and the composer Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...

.

His portrait of Uncle Joe Cannon (Speaker of the House) appeared on cover of the first issue of Time. It was placed on the top of the 1939 World's Fair Time Capsule, to be opened in 2039. Subsequently, he also drew President Harding for "Time". Additionally, he was well-known for his patriotic and recruiting posters in both world wars.