Granddaddy of all Good Tattooing:
Sailor Charlie Barrs
By Carmen Nyssen
Sailor Charlie Barrs
One very special highlight of my Great Great Uncle Bert Grimm’s career is his working relationship with Sailor Charlie Barrs. Barrs tattooed in a style known today as ‘American Traditional,’ marked by bold tattoos with defined outlines and nuanced black shading. Though few examples of his work survive, he was one of the great old-timers, championed by many in the tattoo world.
Bert Grimm once raved, “There’s no one can touch him on the artistic end.”
And Chicago tattooer, Tatts Thomas, insisted Barrs was “the master of the craft.”
E.D. Horton probably paid him the biggest compliment when he told the Seattle Post Intelligencer in the 1950s:
“I think we all sit at the feet of ‘Sailor Charlie Barrs,’…..” “….I think we all recognize him as the master.”
Honolulu tattoo artist, Sailor Jerry, was yet another who thought highly of Barrs; he believed Barrs had never been given due credit for his contributions to tattooing. In a 1960s letter to East Coast tattooer Paul Rogers, he confided:
“I have always felt he [Barrs] was the one who got [Cap] Coleman started on the black track-he was a great tattooer and fine artist.”
He went on to say:
“…Many of these designs we prize today were old “Sailor Charlie’s.”
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Charlie Barrs’ Legacy
In light of all the praise, we can be sure Charlie Barrs’ tattooing was something special. Those who had the privilege of learning from him, such as Cap Coleman (c. 1920 in Norfolk, Virginia) and Owen Jensen (c. 1926 in Los Angeles, California), went on to become exceptional tattoo artists. You could say proof of Barrs’ ability shines through their tattooing.
As you might have guessed, Barrs was also a major contributor to Bert’s success.
While Bert had apprenticed several months with Sailor George Fosdick in Portland, Oregon just before his two year apprenticeship with Barrs in the 1920s, he attributed both his knowledge of machinery and his shading techniques to Barrs.
Charlie Barrs was a confirmed master tattoo machinist. Photos of his work leave little doubt about his prowess with a tattoo machine; the gradations in shading he achieved were striking, adding incredible dimension to his tattoos. One look at the below before-and-after shots of Bert’s work and the Barrs influence is clear.
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Charlie Barrs-Cap Coleman Connection
Bert Grimm relayed the story of how Cap Coleman, having heard of Barrs’ great talent, invited him in as a partner in his Norfolk, Virginia tattoo shop. Federal Census records, which place Barrs in the city in 1920, confirm the time period; it was only two years after Coleman had quit life on the road with carnivals and made Norfolk his forever tattoo home. After their time together, Bert said, Coleman’s tattooing looked quite a bit like Barrs’ work.
By 1921, Barrs had made San Diego his base, but from that point on, until the mid-1940s, he would trek to Norfolk to help Coleman with the surge in business whenever the fleet was in town. Barrs’ grandson, who described Barrs as a jolly man who always had a cigar hanging from his mouth, said he would suddenly be gone for months. He always returned, though, and took up tattooing again in San Diego. (In later years he worked with San Diego’s Painless Nell Bowen, her husband Huey, and sister Jo. Painless Nell’s nephew recalls that Barrs was a reserved fellow, but one of the nicest).
Yellow Beak Press sells a rare image capturing Barrs’ Norfolk history: it depicts the front of Cap Coleman’s tattoo shop with two sailors admiring the Battleship Kate statue and a sign that states:
“Coleman and Barrs. East and West Coast Leading Tattoo Artists.”
Sailor Charlie Barrs, Bert Grimm, and Huey & Nell Bowen were good friends and co-workers.
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Questions or Comments? Email:
carmennyssen@buzzworthytattoo.com
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