An athlete and outdoorsman, artist Joseph Francis Kernan was known as the “poor man’s Norman Rockwell.” But Kernan was a superb illustrator in his own right. During the 1920s and ’30s, J.F. Kernan (1878-1958) illustrated nearly 30 Saturday Evening Post covers. Some depicted the seaside or old sailors. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, Joseph Francis Kernan attended the Eric Pape School of Art in Boston and later taught at the school before embarking on his art career. His art featured, as he described it, “the human side of outdoor sports, hunting, fishing, and dogs.”
