Ernest Albert worked as a newspaper illustrator while studying at the Brooklyn Institute School of Design, but upon graduation switched gears and began an apprenticeship in scene-painting at the Park and Union Square theaters in New York. As a theatrical artist, he traveled to Saint Louis, Chicago, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He settled once again in New York in 1894 and opened Albert Studios, a successful stage and scenic design company.

Albert spent summers in Old Lyme after 1896 and became integrated in the budding artist colony. He concentrated primarily on easel painting after 1909. His paintings are noted for the Impressionistic brushwork and subtle gradations of light, and he participated regularly in exhibitions at the National Academy of Design. He was the founder and first president of the Allied Artists of America, and a member of the American Watercolor Society, the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts, and the Lyme Art Association.