SAWYER Raphael (Raphael Abramovich)

December 25, 1899 (Borisoglebsk Tambov province) - November 4, 1987 (New York)

painter and graphic artist.

born in the family of a teacher and amateur artist Abraham Sawyer, twin brother, Moses Sawyer, brother of Isaac Sawyer. Initially studied drawing under the guidance of his father, who also introduced the brothers with a history of Russian art and took them to Moscow to show the Tretyakov Gallery.

in 1912 for political reasons, his father and his family left Russia and settled in the U.S.: first in Philadelphia, then - in New York. Art education in the School of Cooper Union in Manhattan. In 1918-1922 he studied (intermittently) in the National Academy of drawing and the American Art Student League in Pan Ki Bois. At the same time, to earn some money, sold newspapers, worked as a janitor, later - factory workers.

In 1929 in the gallery "Daniel" was the first personal exhibition Sawyer, with whom he now has acquired in his collection of the Whitney Museum. Since that time devoted himself entirely to writing. In the 1920 - 1930, wrote the streets of working-class neighborhoods of New York, docks and piers of the East River, scenes from the life of the urban poor, which he could see from his studio in Manhattan.

later withdrew from the social dimension, referring to the portrait, nude, genre scenes from the life of New York. Like his brother Moses, and maintained close ties with representatives of the Russian emigres in America. Friends with DD Burliuk, who devoted his brothers his poem "Sawyer". In 1929, along with other natives of Russia established the John Richard Club.

Since 1932 solo exhibitions of Raphael Sawyer were held almost annually in various galleries in New York. Retrospective exhibition of paintings held in 1956 in the gallery "Babcock" and 1967 in the Whitney Museum. He was elected a member of the American Institute of Arts and Letters. He worked in the field of book graphics.

Raphael Soyer - one of the most significant representatives of realism in American art of the twentieth century, which very accurately conveyed in his works during the Great Depression. His paintings 1920 - early 1930's, usually performed in a dark, almost monochrome color scheme, which is dominated by various shades of brown and gray. Works 1940 - 1980 lost nonfiction sound and social urgency of early works. They appeared lyricism and poetic inspiration images. Softened and became a much richer palette of the artist, which appeared bright colors. Along with many involved in watercolor painting, lithography and etching.

creativity of the artist is represented in many private and museum collections in Russia and abroad, including in GMII im. Pushkin, Whitney Museum, Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco and Boston, the Museum Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, the Museum d'Orsay in Paris, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and many others.