Born in Russia, his family was deported in 1913 and moved to New York city. His father was a Hebrew teacher and writer and encouraged artistic and intellectual interests. Soyer left school at 16 to support his family. He attended free classes at Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design. Guy Pene du Bois a teacher at the Art Students League, recognized his talents and introduced him to Charles Daniel, who gave him his first solo exhibition in 1929. The success of the event secured his position as a professional artist. He painted common scenes and people. Artists he admired, such as Rembrandt, Degas, and Eakins, he felt were dedicated to showing their times truthfully, and emphasized inner character more than physical beauty. Both of Soyers brothers, Moses and Isaac, were also artists. With hisidentical twin Moses, he painted murals for the post office in Pennsylvania. He also taught at the Art Students League. he painted realism, at a time when expressionism dominated the American art scene. The depression's economic difficulties could be seen in his subjects, and unemployed men and women at work caught his eye. He painted nudes and women at work as his main themes after the 1940's. He died in 1987 in New York. Soruces: Michael Zellman, 300 years of American Art, Matthew Baigell, Dictionary of American Art.