Born in Bridgeport, Illinois, Lewis Ramsey was a painter as well as muralist and sculptor who taught at Latter Day Saints University in Salt Lake City, Utah and then spent the last eight years of his life in Hollywood where he continued to paint landscapes, seascapes, animals and native American scenes. Other projects of his career included illustrations for postcards, museum dioramas, murals and W.P.A. commissions. He moved to Utah at age 12, became a convert to the Mormon Church, and studied art with John Hafen. At age 17, he enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago and then worked in Boston and New York City as a calligrapher and photo retoucher. He studied with Douglas Volk and from 1897 to 1903, attended the Julian Academy in Paris as a pupil of William Bouguereau and Jean Paul Laurens. From 1903 to 1905, he taught at Latter Day Saints University, was briefly in Chicago, and then returned to Utah where he raised his family. In the early 1930s, he moved to California, and while living both there and in Utah, he painted scenes in Arizona, Wyoming, and Nevada.