Knowing that he needed to “learn his lessons” in drawing the figure, Knippers went to Paris for six weeks and drew from the nude at least six hours a day, six days a week.  Sunday was a welcome day of rest.  By the end of this time, he knew that the figure somehow was to be central to his work, but he did not yet know how that should be realized.

On their final night in Paris, he and his wife, Diane, went to an evening of Balanchine at the Opera House where The Prodigal Son with the Georges Rouault sets and costumes was performed.  “Something crystallized.  I felt my prayers had been answered.  For my work, I began to see, the figure must live in a symbiotic relationship with the narrative, specifically the most significant narrative that I know – the Bible.”  It is at the point of that symbiotic relationship that Knippers, a devout Christian, sees his faith and art merging.