Soyer brothers were important American painters known for realistic scenes of city life in the 1930’s. Raphael Soyer (1899-1987) and Moses Soyer (1899-1974) remained close in style and subject matter throughout their careers. They both specialized in depicting the working lives of anonymous, middle-class residents of the Lower East Side of New York City. Their most famous paintings movingly show the difficulty of surviving economically in an urban environment during the Great Depression of the 1930’s.
Many of the Soyers’ paintings portray unglamorous working women. Raphael’s painting Office Girls (1936) is typical of their work. It shows women crowded on a city street but isolated in their individual struggles, reflected in their grim expressions. Other paintings of this period include Raphael’s Mission (1933) and Moses’ Out of Work (1937). Their later work includes Raphael’s Avenue of the Americas (1970) and Moses’ Ballet Studio (1955).
The Soyers were twin brothers who were born in Borisoglebsk, Russia. They immigrated with their family to the United States in 1912, settling in New York City. Both came to prominence during the late 1920’s. Their early art showed their admiration for the realistic style of the American painters George Bellows, Thomas Eakins, and Robert Henri. The Soyers also produced prints and drawings, as well as paintings of friends and family members. Another brother, Isaac Soyer (1902-1981), also painted realistic scenes of urban life.
