Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, Will Barnet studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, before moving to New York, where he continued his studies at the Art Students League. In 1936, he became the League’s Master printer, and five years later, he became an instructor there. Barnet continued to teach at the League until the 1980s and held other teaching positions at Yale University, the New School for Social Research, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His first solo exhibition was in 1935 at the 8th Street Playhouse in New York, with shows and retrospectives following throughout his career. Barnet has known the Vogels since at the least the late 1970s, as there are several drawings of the couple dating from 1977.