SOYER, RAPHAEL

SOYER, RAPHAEL
SOYER, RAPHAEL (1899–1987), U.S. painter and printmaker. Born in Borisoglebsk, Russia, Raphael Soyer was one of three of the six Soyer children – along with his twin brother moses soyer and younger brother Isaac Soyer – who became artists. In 1912, when the family was forced to leave Russia because their "Right to Live" permit was revoked, they immigrated to the United States, settling in the Bronx. After taking drawing classes at the Cooper Union (1914–17), Soyer studied at the National Academy of Design (1918–22) and the Art Students League, where he attended classes intermittently from 1920 until 1926. Soyer enjoyed his first one-man show at New York's Daniel Gallery in 1929. It was there that his painting Dancing Lesson (1926, Collection Renee and Chaim Gross, New York), often understood as the exemplar of Jewish American art, was first exhibited publicly.   Throughout his career, Soyer was interested in Social Realist themes, which he both painted and showed in prints. During the Great Depression he often created dark-hued, compassionate renderings of the down-and-out in works such as In the City Park (1934, private collection, New York). Soyer retreated into his studio in the 1940s and 1950s. Indeed, self-portraits at his easel and studio scenes of female nudes comprise Soyer's artistic interests at this time, as did portraits of his artist-friends and artists he admired. At a 1941 one-man show at the Associated American Artists Gallery, 23 of Soyer's artist-portraits were exhibited in a section entitled "My Contemporaries and Elders." Among the paintings displayed were portraits of Phillip Evergood and abraham walkowitz . In the late 1950s Soyer started to paint outdoor scenes again, most of which were figurative canvases, such as Farewell to Lincoln Square (1959, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.). Inspired by Soyer's eviction from the Lincoln Arcade Building, where he kept a studio for 14 years, the large, colorful painting includes a self-portrait of the artist. Remaining a representational artist in an abstract art scene, Soyer founded the periodical Reality: A Journal of Artists' Opinions, published annually from 1953 to 1955 to declare the importance of imaging "man and his world." After meeting isaac bashevis singer in the elevator of his New York apartment building, Soyer worked on several projects with the Yiddish writer. Soyer illustrated a Limited Editions Club publication of two Singer stories, "The Gentleman from Cracow" and "The Mirror" (1979), and the second and third volumes of Singer's memoirs, A Young Man in Search of Love (1978) and Lost in America (1981). Soyer chronicled aspects of his life in four autobiographies. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Goodrich, Raphael Soyer (1972); S. Cole, Raphael Soyer: Fifty Years of Printmaking, 19171967 (1978); M. Heyd and E. Mendelsohn. "Jewish' Art? The Case of the Soyer Brothers," in: Jewish Art (1993–94), 194–211; S. Baskind, Raphael Soyer and the Search for Modern Jewish Art (2004). (Samantha Baskind (2nd ed.)

Encyclopedia Judaica. 1971.

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  • Soyer, Raphael — (1899–1988)    US artist. Soyer arrived in New York in 1912, the son of a Russian immigrant family. He came to the fore as a painter of social protest in the Depression years after 1929, and in the Roosevelt New Deal era that followed. His… …   Who’s Who in Jewish History after the period of the Old Testament

  • Soyer, Raphael — (1899 1988)    American artist. Born in Borisoglebsk, Russia, he went to the US in 1913. He studied at the Educational Alliance School and at the Art Students League. He painted scenes of New York …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • Raphael Soyer — Infobox Artist bgcolour = #6495ED name = Raphael Soyer imagesize = caption = birthname = birthdate = 1899 location = Borisoglebsk, Tambov deathdate = 1987 deathplace = nationality = American field = Draftsman, Painting, Printing training =… …   Wikipedia

  • SOYER, MOSES — (1899–1974), U.S. painter. Born into a cultured family, Moses Soyer, his twin brother raphael soyer , and younger brother Isaac Soyer all became well known artists associated with the Social Realist style of painting. The family was forced out of …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Soyer — [soi′ər] 1. Moses 1899 1974; U.S. painter, born in Russia 2. Raphael 1899 1987; U.S. painter, born in Russia: twin brother of Moses * * * …   Universalium

  • Soyer — [soi′ər] 1. Moses 1899 1974; U.S. painter, born in Russia 2. Raphael 1899 1987; U.S. painter, born in Russia: twin brother of Moses …   English World dictionary

  • Isaac Soyer — Infobox Artist name = Isaac Soyer imagesize = caption = birthname = birthdate = 1902 Borisoglebskcite web last = first = authorlink = coauthors = title = Soyer work = publisher = The Columbia Encyclopedia date = 2001 5 url =… …   Wikipedia

  • Moses Soyer — Born December 25, 1899 Borisoglebsk, Tambov Died September 3, 1974 Movement Social Realism Moses Soyer (December 25, 1899 – September 3, 1974) was an Americ …   Wikipedia

  • Expressionnisme figuratif new-yorkais — Le mouvement expressionniste figuratif New yorkais (en anglais : New York Figurative Expressionism) est un style artistique pictural développé dans les années 1950 qui voit plusieurs artistes new yorkais contrer l abstraction en se tournant… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Visual arts of the United States — refers to the history of painting and visual art in the United States. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, artists primarily painted landscapes and portraits in a realistic style. A parallel development taking shape in rural… …   Wikipedia

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