Self-Portrait by Raphael Soyer (1899-1987) Artist Proof, Signed In Pencil Bottom Right, & Inscribed "To Fellow Painter Mervin Jules In Friendship 1982" From The Private Collection of Mervin Jules 19 x 24

Russian-born artist Raphael Soyer is best known for his compassionate, naturalistic depictions of urban subjects. His sensitive, penetrating portrayals include a broad range of city dwellers: Bowery bums, dancers, seamstresses, shoppers, office workers and fellow artists. Historically, Soyer is associated with the social realist artists of the 1930s, whose art championed the cause of social justice.

Soyer's most frequent model was himself, often posed with pencil or brush in hand, as in Self-Portrait ca. 1927, and his work was mainly in oil and lithography*. He did not accept commissions for portraits because his interest was with the private person and the effects of the modern world on the psyche, rather than a public facade.