Raphael Soyer: Studio Life

Raphael Soyer: Studio Life features a dozen early paintings by esteemed American painter Raphael Soyer (1899-1987), who gained critical acclaim for his figurative paintings in the interwar period, particularly through his frequent showings, starting in 1927, at the Whitney Studio Club and Museum annuals. The rarely seen paintings are from the personal collection of Renee and Chaim Gross.

The exhibition, organized by Zak Vreeland, showcases paintings of charismatic male and female models as well as artists, depicted with Soyer’s enduring humanism and empathy. His subjects include Greenwich Village regular Gitel Poznanski (1914-71), who went on to receive a PhD in Anthropology at Columbia University; Susan Leonard (c. 1885-1966), a well-known model at the Art Student’s League also painted by Robert Henri; and sculptor Chaim Gross (1904-91) as a young emerging artist.