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In Borisoglebsk, Russia on December 25th, 1899, Abraham and Bella Soyer gave birth to their twin sons Moses and Raphael. The couple also had a third son, Issac. Bella, the mother, was an embroiderer, while Abraham, the father, was a scholar and teacher of Hebrew along with being a leader in the local Jewish community. From a young age Abraham and Bella encouraged the young Raphael twins toward intellectual and artist purists, encouraging both starting to sketching and painting at home.
Mother and Child (1925), Raphael Soyer, Lithographic Print
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Abraham had always encouraged liberal ideas; this and with his growing popularity among his students was seen as a problem by local authorities. Adding to this was Tsarist Russia’s anti-Semitic nature resulted in the family having to move. In 1912, the family was denied a residency permit and the family was forced to move.
Raphael Soyer struggled adjusting to his new home, and, at 16, was overjoyed when he dropped out of school to help with his family. During this time, he would earn money from odd jobs while taking free art classes at Cooper Union. In 1918, Soyer would enroll at the National Academy of Design and would remain there until he graduated in 1922. After graduating, Raphael would bounce between a series of jobs as he continued painting in his spare time.
The works both Soyer brothers produced during this period would begin to define their works as part of the movement of social realism. Social realism painters focused their work on the "masses," the lower and working classes. Social realism painters in the 1920s and 1930s believed that using the images of the masses and the social revolutionaries would drive society to address the issues these classes of people suffered from. It is likely that the early upbringing in Russia, along with Raphel's location in urban New York during this time were contributing factors to the Soyer's adoption of this movement. During this time, Soyer painted parks and streets, peddlers and children, and domestic scenes of his family. This would mark the start of Soyer’s interest in the social realist artistic movement, art that focuses on the lives of the working classes, which would remain at heart of Soyer’s works.
Description: Painting The Mission (1935)
Credit: Raphael Soyer
Description: Artists on the WPA
Oil on Canvas, at the Smithsonian Institution.
Credit: Moses Soyer
Soyer’s works were first exhibited in 1926, and his work would be shown across New York galleries. Then Soyer would have his first solo exhibition at the Daniel Gallery in 1929, which was well received by critics, and he would also sell five of his works. After this, Soyer would dedicate himself fully to painting.
One cannot discuss Soyer without discussing the 1930s and the Great Depression that came to dominate the decade in America. Soyer painted scenes that depicted the reality of life in New York City during the Depression. Though he depicted the troubles many faced because of the Depression, Soyer never made sure that his work was never overtly political. Instead, he wanted his works to portray the emotions that many felt during those trying times. Though he wouldn’t stop painting scenes from New York, he also started to delve deeper into figure studies, many of his subjects being female.
It was during the 1930s that Soyer’s life would change as well. He begins his art teaching career at the John Reed Club in New York in 1930. A career that would eventually lead him to teach at the Art Students League, the American Artists School, the New School for Social Research, and the National Academy of Design. In 1931 Soyer would meet and marry Rebecca Letz, with whom he had one daughter, Mary.
During the 40s and 50s, Soyer would retreat to his studio practice and devoted himself to figure painting. His prolific body of work showed a renewed emphasis on female subjects, with many scenes depicting women in the workplace. But Soyer also took time to paint portraits of his friends and artists he admired. But out of all Soyer’s models, the one that would be painted the most would be himself. Over the course of his career, Soyer painted over a dozen self-portraits.
Description: Self-portrait of Raphael Soyer (1980)
Credit: Raphael Soyer
Soyer remained firm in his social realist style, even as abstraction art began to rise around the mid-century. As a response to the rise of abstraction art, in 1953 Soyer helped create the periodical Reality: A Journal of Artists' Opinions. Though the periodical would only run for two years, it continued to stress the importance of imaging man and the world in which he lived.
Description: Volume 1 of Reality: A Journal of Artists' Opinions (1953)
Credit: Reality: A Journal of Artists' Opinions
In his later years, Soyer would write and illustrate three memoirs: A Painter’s Pilgrimage (1962), Self-Revealment: A Memoir (1969), Diary of an Artist (1977). Soyer continued to paint until shortly before his death from cancer at age 87 on November 4th, 1987.
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