Lucian Lupinski was born in Herkimer, New York in 1918 and grew up in Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio. His father had moved from Poland and lived in Toledo for 30 years. Lucian was a flamboyant portrait painter. He started drafting and painting at the age of Eight, and in 1932 he began doing illustrations for a newspaper syndicate and after graduation he went to New York to make his mark as a commercial artist. As a young artist, he started painting religious subjects including a priest and a nun. He was only 19 years old. What was his method of inspiration? "I look at the empty canvas. Then I look up to heaven and ask for guidance in my work."

He studied under Theodore Keane at Ohio State University, at the Grand Central School of Art an...