Raphael Soyer Seated Girl Signed Vintage Modern Figurative Original Oil Painting

An original pensive oil painting on canvas titled “Seated Girl” by American artist Raphael Soyer. Hand signed bottom right. Circa 1950s. The painting depicts a young woman in red dressed in mid-20th century attire that was fashionable in the era. The walls behind her are bare, creating a stark and minimal composition. The main figure seated seems isolated among dramatic shadows and lighting, like the artworks by Edward Hopper. A unique opportunity to own an original painting from a New York Modernist painter. From a private collection. Dimensions: 34”h x 39.75”w x 1.5”d (framed). In very good vintage condition. Raphael Soyer (1899-1987) was a painter, draughtsman, and printmaker who believed that art is to survive, it must describe and express people, their lives and times. It must communicate. From an early age Soyer and his brothers Moses and Isaac were encouraged to draw by their father, a teacher of Hebrew literature and history. Forced to leave Russia in 1912, they immigrated to the United States and settled in Brooklyn. In the mid 1920s, having studied at Cooper Union, the National Academy of Design, and the Art Students League, Soyer painted scenes of life on New York’s east side. His portrayals of derelicts, working people, and the unemployed around Union Square during the Depression reveal more of a poignant vision of the human condition than the art of social protest popular with many of his contemporaries. Throughout his life Soyer painted people his friends, himself, studio models with an unerring eye for intimacy and mood.