Lewis travelled to America with his wife in 1939, just before the outbreak of the Second World War. Although the rejection of his portrait of T. S. Eliot by the Royal Academy the previous year had earned Lewis some publicity, he believed he would be unable to support himself by painting and writing in wartime England. So Lewis headed for North America and Canada and expected a successful career as a painter. The reality was rather different, and he was dependent on commissioned portraits which stifled his creativity. Lewis also made things difficult for himself by being argumentative with friends and business contacts. His portrait of Samuel Capen was commissioned by a lawyer, Thomas B. Lockwood, in 1939 and he was paid $1000 for the painting. Lewis got on well with his sitter, but relations soured with various others when he refused to exhibit the portrait at the Albright Art Gallery and apparently attempted to hand it over unfinished. Lewis completed the portrait but received no further official commissions.