Raphael Soyer and the Search for Modern Jewish ArtArtist Raphael Soyer (1899 1987), whose Russian Jewish family settled in Manhattan in 1912, was devoted to painting people in their everyday urban lives. He came to be known especially for his representations of city workers and the down and out, and for his portraits of himself and his friends. Although Soyer never identified himself as a "Jewish artist," Samantha Baskind, in the first full length critical study of the artist, argues that his work