THE HOME OF TWO GENERATIONS OF ARTISTS:
JOHN NERNOFF JR. AND HIS SON, BYRON NERNOFF
 

My father was born in Astoria, Queens in 1908 to Estonian parents and moved to Long Island in 1919. He went to Roslyn High School and graduated in 1926.  He continued his education by attending Pratt Institute, earning a degree in fine arts.  His first job after graduating was painting travel posters and advertising flyers for a travel agency.

From the 1930s through the 1960s, my father worked as a commercial artist at Lester Rosen Associates,  specializing in lettering and label design.  Among the many brands for whom he created packaging artwork as well as advertising layouts were Bellaire Cigarettes, Maxwell House Coffee, Beachnut Baby Food and Old Crow Whiskey. In the early 1960s, my father became a sought-after airbrush artist, and worked extensively for Clairol. Most of these brands were featured in the leading magazines of the day: Life, Look  and The Saturday Evening Post.  This was the golden age of illustration, well before the advent of computers in graphic design.

As a painter of fine art, my father began in the 1920s and continued until he went on to see the Lord at the age of 88. There are many previoulsy unseen paintings which feature steam ships, landscapes as well as specialty paintings and still life.  Many of these paintings and others are being introduced for the first time  through this website. 

Dad was a close friend of Frank Brainard, who was responsible for Operation Sail in the waters surrounding Manhatttan during the 1976 Bicentennial. Both Frank and my dad were members of the Steamship Historical Society of New York. My father's ship paintings were featured at the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, while it was open to the public in the 1960s and 1970s.