In 1906, he began his studies at the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw. During the First World War he found himself in Russia, where he taught drawing at a Polish secondary school. In 1920, together with Felicjan Kowarski, he founded the graphic arts workshop "Sztuka" in Toruń, which dealt with illustrating books, advertising graphics and exhibitions. For his design of the pavilion for the General National Exhibition in Poznań, in 1929, Czerny received a diploma of appreciation. He designed the decorations for the Polish pavilion for the 1930 World Exhibition in Liege, for which he was awarded the Grand Prix. He was a member of the graphic and advertising agency "Grafik" and a founder of the Circle of Advertising Graphic Artists, established in 1933. The artist was one of the graphic designers involved in the advertising campaign "Cukier krzepi" (Sugar fortifies). Nowina-Czerny, like many poster artists of the interwar period, represented the art deco trend. In most of his works he used a cubist synthesis of form and flattened space.

In 1939. Czerny created the interior of the restaurant pavilion and agricultural hall for the World Exhibition in New York. During the Warsaw Uprising, the artist was paralysed by a bomb explosion. He and his wife Zofia reached Lebanon, from where they emigrated to Canada. Zofia Nowina-Czerny graduated from the Warsaw School of Fine Arts. In 1925, she participated in the annual exhibition of the Polish Art Club in Warsaw. In Canada, she devoted herself to caring for her paralysed husband. She died a year after him, in 1958, in Toronto.

The Polish press noted only one exhibition of Henryk Nowina-Czarny's work, in 1956, in Toronto at the King Edward Hotel. After the death of both artists, a memoir was published: "The family of artists harmed by fate" ("Związkowiec"), which described the dramatic wartime and post-war lives of both artists. Czerny from the interwar period is recalled by Jerzy Zaruba in his book of memoirs Warszawa naszej młodości (Wyd. Iskry, 1955). The Nautilus-Gallery-Auction House website features a colour lithograph by Henryk Nowina-Czerny, 'Szczątki kolegiaty w Płocku' (1924, 26 cm x 19.7 cm).