Isaac Soyer: The Waitress, 1934-1939
The Waitress , ca. 1934-1939
Isaac Soyer, Born: Borisoglebsk, Russia 1902, Died: New York, New York 1981
pencil on paper, sheet: 18 3/4 x 17 in. (47.5 x 43.1 cm)
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Transfer from the Evander Childs High School, Bronx, New York through the General Services Administration
1975.83.111
“The artist discovers beauty and meaning in whatever environment he is cast by chance,” Soyer wrote in 1947. For him, the place was New York City, where he drew scenes of everyday life. In The Waitress, Soyer captures a waitress cleaning the table of a man dining alone. Around them customers bustle and converse and dishes clank, but the artist isolates the two figures from their surroundings. They are engrossed in private thoughts despite their physical proximity.
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