Comics: Gene Barnett, Illustrator, Painter, Sculptor, Etcher, Writer and Letterer

Eugene Asheton “Gene” Barnett was born on March 18, 1894, in Atlanta, Georgia, according to his World War I draft card and passport application which had his full name. 

In the 1900 United States Census, Barnett (line 90) was the oldest of three children born to Eugene and Ida. They family were Nashville, Tennessee residents at 703 Shirley Street. His father was a clothing salesman.

The 1910 census counted Barnett (line 70), his parents and five siblings in Atlanta, Georgia at 4 Rosalia Street. Sixteen-year-old Barnett was a hardware salesman.

Every now and then, Barnett was mentioned in the society pages of The Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia). The September 27, 1914 edition said

On June 5, 1917, Barnett signed his World War I draft card. His address was 34 Rosalia Street. His description was short with blue eyes and brown hair. Barnett was a display man at Jacob Pharmacy in Marietta, Georgia. 

Barnett’s registration was listed in The Constitution, July 13, 1917. 

Barnett’s Georgia World War I service card said he enlisted on April 16, 1918 at the Navy Recruiting Station in Atlanta. He trained for radio electrician beginning at Newport, Rhode Island, then Cambridge, Massachusetts, and New York City. His rating was Electrician 2nd Class Radio. Barnett was discharged on March 10, 1919.

According to the 1920 census, Barnett (line 7) stayed at the YMCA, 215 West 23rd Street, in Manhattan. His was employed as an artist in the film industry. The American Art Annual, Volume 26, (1930; “Who’s Who in Art” section reprinted in Dictionary of American Artists: 19th & 20th Century (1982)), said Barnett was a student of Edward Penfield whose studio was at 163 West 23rd Street. 

Barnett’s passport application was filed on June 23, 1922. The passport was issued four days later. In July he planned to visit several countries in Europe. 

On September 14, 1922, Barnett (line 12) departed Le Havre, France. He arrived in the port of New York on September 23. 

The American Art Annual said Barnett was an illustrator, painter (undated oil painting here), sculptor, etcher and writer, who worked at 522 Fifth Avenue, near 43rd Street, which was the address of the advertising agency, Robert M. McMullen Company. He was a member of the Society of Illustrators. 

The 1930 census said Barnett was an advertising art director (line 30). His Manhattan address was 1 West 67th Street. 

Two months after the census enumeration, Printers’ Ink, June 5, 1930, said 

Eugene Barnett with Caples Company

Eugene Barnett, formerly with the Robert M. McMullen Company, New York, has joined the Caples Company, advertising agency, also of that city, as art director.

The Caples Company was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois with branches in New York City and Tampa, Florida. 

On October 2, 1930, Barnett and Florence M. Johns obtained, in Manhattan, marriage license number 24031. They married two days later. 

News of the marriage was reported in the Spokane Chronicle (Washington), October 7, 1930. 

Miss Florence Johns Will Wed in East 

From New York comes the announcement that Miss Florence M. Johns, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William C. Johns of this city, and Eugene A. Barrett, son of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Barrett of Atlanta, will be married in New York this month. Miss Johns is an artist and has resided in New York city for several years. Mr. Barrett is in the advertising business. The couple procured their marriage license in New York October 2, announcing at that time they would be married later in the month. 

In the 1940 census, the couple (lines 44 and 45) resided in Manhattan at 74 West 69th Street. Barnett was a freelance artist. It’s not clear when he left the Caples Company. His highest level of education was the fourth year of college. In 1939 Barnett earned $1,000. 

At some point Barnett was a letterer at Harry “A” Chesler’s comic book shop which opened in 1936 at 276 Fifth Avenue at 30th Street and, by 1941, had moved to 163 West 23rd Street (Edward Penfield’s old studio address). 

On April 26, 1942 Barnett signed his World War II draft card. His address and occupation were unchanged. He was described as five feet five inches, 150 pounds, with gray eyes and hair.

The Agency List #96, January 1949, said Barnett was art director at John A. Finneran, Inc., 1475 Broadway, New York. 

The Official Directory, American Illustrators and Advertising Artists (1949) had an entry for Barnett. 

40. Eugene Barnett

74 W. 69 St. TR 7-5149 

New York 23, N. Y.  

Advertising & Magazine 

Illustration, Book Design 

Rep. A. Gatterman

In 1950 Barnett (line 7) was a freelance artist at 74 West 69th Street. His wife was an accountant. He earned $3,200 in 1949. 

Barnett passed away on December 21, 1954, in Manhattan according to the New York, New York Death Index at Ancestry.com. He was laid to rest at the Long Island National Cemetery. 

(There was another person named Eugene Barnett who was a cartoonist. His daughter wrote a book about him.) 

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Jean Callahan, Helen Chu aka Duffy Mohler, Milton Cohen, Ellen Cole, Herb Cooper, Danny Crespi, 

Jon D’Agostino, James Daleo, Martin DeMuth, Shel Dorf, Marty Epp, Howard Ferguson, Herb Field, 

Gerda Gattel, Selma Meyers Gleit, Louis L. Goldklang, Angelo Grasso, Anita Greene, Al Grenet, Ed Hamilton, Delores Heilman, Ray Holloway, IBM Directory, Alex Jay, Albert and Charlotte Jetter, 

Abe Kanegson, George Kapitan, Anna Kaufman, Gary Keller, Rick Keller, Nadine French King, Ralph Komisarow, Grace Kremer, Morrie Kuramoto, Al Kurzrok, 

Bob Lander, Bob Laughlin, Bob Leatherbarrow, Shelly Leferman, Len Leone, Joe Letterese, Veda Lufkin, 

Robert N. MacLeod/Leroy Lettering, Lee Maroshek, Larry Mayer, Ed McLean, Jack Meltzer, Mel Millar, Jim Novak, Bill Oakley, Ben Oda,

Walter Palais, Stephen Palmisano, Charles Paris, Otto Pirkola, Fred Proctor, Jerry Robinson, Joe and Sam Rosen, George Roussos,

Georgette Sauterel, Ira Schnapp, Irving Settel, Rome Siemon, Artie Simek, Lora Sprang aka Pat Gordon, Herman Stackel, Stan Starkman, Daisy Swayze, Zoltan and Terry Szenics, 

Richard Deane Taylor, Alberta Tews, Matthew Tweedy, Frank Vina, George Ward, Irv Watanabe, Irving Werstein, Leo Wurtzel, John Yakata, Bill Yoshida, Bernie Zuber

(Next post on Monday: Scrambled Feet (Plus a Few Details About Val Mayerik))

Creator: Eric Pape, Illustrator and Painter

Eric Pape was born Frederick Ludwig Moritz Pape Jr. on October 17, 1870, in San Francisco, California, according to his passport application at Ancestry.com.

Pape’s father operated a business selling groceries and liquors in San Francisco on the northwest corner of Jackson Street and Battery Street as recorded in the 1887 San Francisco directory. Pape was listed as an art student. The family resided at 2109 Leavenworth Street.

A passport was issued on August 23, 1888 to Pape who planned to further his art training in France. His art training and early art career were examined in Brush and Pencil, March 1899.

In Paris Pape met art student Alice Monroe. On August 16, 1894 Pape married Monroe in Dover, New Hampshire. The marriage certificate said Pape’s parents were Frederick Pape and Marie Miren. Monroe was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts and her parents were Lewis B. Monroe and Adeline F. Osgood

At some point Pape moved to New York City. He was listed in the 1897 New York City directory as an artist who had a studio at 939 8th Avenue, and resided at 181 West 87th Street. After a period of time Pape settled in Boston.

Pape was profiled in The Art Interchange, May 1900. The profile was illustrated with rare photographs of Pape, Monroe and their Boston studios. In 1899 he established the Eric Pape School of Art in Boston.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Brookline, Massachusetts death certificate, dated February 7, 1902, was filed for the couple’s stillborn daughter.

In the 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Pape, his wife and son, Moritz, lived in Gloucester, Massachusetts at 11 Bennett Street. The census revealed Pape’s parents were German emigrants. The household included two servants.

The passing of Pape’s wife was noted in the American Art Annual, Volume 9, 1911.

Pape, Alice Monroe.—A painter, died at her home, The Plains, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., on May 17, 1911. She was born in Boston and studied art in that city under Dennis Bunker and George H. Clements, and in Paris under Bouguereau, Robert-Fleury and Lazare. She passed seven years in Europe, mostly in Paris and Switzerland. She married Eric Pape, the painter, and her sister is the wife of the sculptor, George Grey Barnard. She was a pianist and double bass viola-player.

The Chelsea, Massachusetts birth register, at Ancestry.com, recorded her birth date as March 22, 1867. An obituary was published on May 18 in the Boston Transcript.

The 1920 Gloucester Suburban, Massachusetts city directory listed Pape at “School byd Essex County Club grounds” in Manchester.

The New York, New York Marriage License Index, at Ancestry.com, said Pape and Alice Byrne obtained a marriage license on September 17, 1920 in Manhattan. The New York Times, September 24, 1920, said

Eric Pape, widely known as an artist and stage designer, was married on Friday of last week to Miss Alice Bryne, actress and authoress. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Dr. Vincent C. Lahey at the Little Church Around the Corner, and the friends of the couple learned only yesterday that the marriage had taken place. …

His bride, Alice Byrne, is an artist and actress and the author of several  books for children. She has appeared here with Lou Tellegen in “The King of Nowhere” and several other plays. Mr. and Mrs. Pape will live at Manchester-by-the-Sea, in Massachusetts.

Pape was listed in the 1924 Boston city directory at 247 Newberry Street. The following year the directory said he moved to New York City. Directories for 1926 and 1927 have an “E Pape” at 957 2nd Avenue in Manhattan.

In the 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Pape’s address was 142 East 18 Street in Manhattan. He was a self-employed artist. His wife was 29 years old.

Pape passed away on November 7, 1938, in New York City. The New York Times, November 9, 1938, said

Eric Pape, the artist who founded the Eric Pape School of Art in 1898 and was its director until 1913, died Monday morning in the City Hospital on Welfare Island, to which he was removed on Friday after collapsing from a heart attack while walking on Eighth Avenue near Fortieth Street. He never regained consciousness. His age was 68.

Mr. Pape, who had exhibited his pictures in Paris, Munich and many American cities, was born in San Francisco. He received his art education in Paris in the studios of Boulanger, Lefebvre and Doucet and at the Ecole des Beaux Arts under Gerome and Laurens.

After teaching for a year in the Cowles Art School in Boston, Me. Pape came to New York and started his own school, of which he was the chief instructor. He was also a stage designer, his work in this field including the settings for the production of Percy Mackaye’s “Canterbury Pilgrims,” given in honor of President Taft at Gloucester, Mass., in 1909.

In 1895 he designed the scenery for one of the earliest productions of “Trilby,” which was presented in Sherry’s ballroom, Alice Monroe Pape, the artist’s first wife, who died in 1911, appeared as Trilby and the late Evart Jansen Wendell acted the Laird.

Mr. Pape had long been  member of The Players, for which he was proposed by Mark Twain. He also was a member of the United Arts Club of London and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts of London.

Surviving are his widow, who was Alice Byrne at their marriage in 1920; a son by his first wife, Moritz Pape, and a bother, August Pape, both of San Francisco.

 

Further Reading
Illustrators: Biography and The Gloucester Pageant
Wikipedia

 

 

(Next post on Monday: Shelly Leferman, Letterer, Artist, Colorist and Writer)