Origins & Identity

Joe Barrett was born in 1928 in Philadelphia to Jewish immigrant parents and raised in the East LA barrio of City Terrace. Growing up, he passed for Chicano. He became involved with a local pachuco gang and had multiple run-ins with the law. At 15, he lied about his age to enlist in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He served aboard the USS Allen in the Pacific.

Joe’s half-sister, Cecilia Entner, was a Juilliard alumna who performed at the Metropolitan Opera for two decades and later sponsored a scholarship at the school. His brother, Nathan Entner, was a biologist who contributed to early environmental and evolutionary research. While Joe’s path was different, creativity, science, and scholarship ran deep in the family.

Post-War & Artistic Transformation

After his discharge in 1946, Joe returned to Los Angeles. He attended Los Angeles City College and later the Jepson Art Institute on the GI Bill, where he studied under Rico Lebrun (1900-1964). Lebrun was an Italian-American painter known for his intense figurative work and emotional depth. He consulted on Disney’s Bambi and later taught at Chouinard. His philosophy as a teacher pushed students to explore form as a means of expressing suffering and humanity. While Lebrun’s influence was formative, Joe ...

At Jepson, Joe studied alongside a generation of postwar artists that included Frederick Hammersley and Herb Rabinowitz, both of whom remained connected to his life and work. The school attracted patrons like Vincent Price, who purchased one of Joe’s early paintings — a moment he remembered with quiet pride.

Mystery, Influence & the Hollywood Years

During his time at Jepson, Joe rented a room at the Sowden House in Los Feliz, designed by Lloyd Wright. The home’s theatrical Mayan Revival architecture made it a fixture in the LA art scene, but its reputation darkened when its owner, Dr. George Hodel, was named a key suspect in the Black Dahlia murder. Under pressure from the District Attorney’s office, Joe was asked to monitor Hodel and report on his activities as part of a broader investigation. The experience left a lasting impression.

After Hodel fled the country, Joe moved into the Adolphus Busch mansion on Pasadena’s Millionaire Row, nicknamed the Goat Palace. The home was shared with other artists and located next door to the estate of Jack Parsons, the rocket engineer and occultist. Joe and Parsons became friends, and Parsons introduced Joe to his colleagues in aerospace. Joe was hired at North American Aviation, where he worked as a technical illustrator and later advanced into management, contributing to projects like the Super Sabre jet.

This mix of aerospace, surrealism, and underground LA culture filtered into Joe’s early work, much of which was lost in the years that followed.

Boston, Beats & Reinvention

Joe spent much of the late 1950s in Boston, where he immersed himself in the city’s jazz, poetry, and art circles. The energy of the beat scene and abstract expressionism pushed his work in new directions. But that momentum was abruptly halted after his return to LA in the early 1960s.

When he came back, Joe discovered that his father, without remorse, had burned all of his stored paintings and drawings in a backyard bonfire. The works were never recovered. The loss had a lasting impact.

The Marx Connection & The Studio Years

In the early 1960s, Joe met Miriam Marx, daughter of Groucho Marx, and the two began dating. Together, they opened a framing shop. During this time, Joe spent time at gatherings hosted by Groucho and Harpo Marx, where he met many of the celebrities of the era.

During this time, Joe took contract work in the film industry, including on Alfred Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain, where he created a museum floor model later incorporated into Albert Whitlock’s matte painting. The opportunity came through Mort Rabinowitz, a close friend and fellow Jepson alumnus working in the effects world. Paul Newman was filmed walking across the floor Joe designed.

Joe also pursued acting during this period. He auditioned regularly and took roles in local productions — experience that would resurface during his time in Santa Barbara. He also appeared in print advertisements, including a national ad that ran in Life Magazine alongside a young Dabney Coleman.

Santa Barbara, Love & Legacy

Joe moved to Santa Barbara in the late 1960s, where he taught at Brooks Institute and later migrated with other instructors to the newly founded Santa Barbara Art Institute. He also helped run a small theater, organizing productions and working closely with actors and students in the community.

Joe met Patricia in 1972, and they married the following year. Though twenty years apart in age, they found a quiet compatibility in their differences — her steadiness and drive balanced his inward focus and devotion to the studio. In 1977, they relocated to Ventura after Joe was offered a teaching position at Ventura College, but the offer was quietly rescinded just before Brendan was born. With no job in place and a newborn on the way, Patricia suggested she return to work while Joe stayed home to paint and care for their son.

In his final years, Joe returned often to drawing. While he continued to produce new work, the most personal pieces were his quiet sketches of his granddaughter Welles. Joe Barrett passed away in 2018, leaving behind hundreds of paintings and drawings — few of which were ever shown in public during his lifetime.

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