Waiting for the Audition

c. 1950

Raphael Soyer

Associated Names
Raphael Soyer

Painter, American, born Russia, 1899 - 1987

This painting depicts two individuals seated on a bench that is turned towards the left. On the left, a man is slouched, resting his head on his hand and looking towards us, his upper arm on one arm of the bench. On the right, a woman sits upright with her hands resting on her lap, looking straight ahead. The man has short, light brown hair and wears a brown suit, while the woman has dark hair styled back and is wearing a white blouse, a dark blue skirt, and a pearl necklace. A dark blue coat is draped next to her over the arm of the bench on the right. Both people have pale skin, and the woman wears red lipstick. They are positioned against a blueish-green wall next to a closed door on the left, and the floor is brown. Thick brushstrokes are visible in the background.
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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Acquired March 1951 from the artist by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington;[1] acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art.
[1] The painting received the W.A. Clark First Prize at the 22nd Corcoran Biennial exhibition in 1951.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1951

  • Twenty-Second Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Paintings, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1 April - 13 May 1951.

  • Circulating Corcoran Biennial Exhibition, American Federation of Arts touring exhibition, 19 October 1951 - 6 June 1952.

1956

  • Art and the Theatre, Watkins Museum, American University, Washington, 8 April - 13 May 1956.

1957

  • Twenty-fifth Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Paintings, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Toledo Museum of Art, 1957, no. 22.

1983

  • Jewish Life in America, Meridian House International, Washington, 13 June - 19 August 1983.

2004

  • Figuratively Speaking: The Human Form in American Art, 1770-1950, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 20 November 2004 - 7 August 2005, unpublished checklist.

2013

  • Recent Acquisitions: American Art from the Johns Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2013-2014.

Bibliography

1966

  • Phillips, Dorothy W. A Catalogue of the Collection of American Paintings in The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Vol. 1: Painters born before 1850. Washington, 1966: 160-162.

1998

  • Simmons, Linda, et al. The Forty-fifth Biennial: The Corcoran Collects, 1907-1998. Exh. cat. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1998: 115.

2004

  • Baskind, Samantha. Raphael Soyer and the Search for Modern Jewish Art. Chapel Hill, NC, 2004: 125.

2011

  • Strong, Lisa. "Raphael Soyer, A Railroad Station Waiting Room." In Corcoran Gallery of Art: American Paintings to 1945. Edited by Sarah Cash. Washington, 2011: 251, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: Raphael Soyer

Wikidata ID

Q46635850

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