Moses Soyer was a painter and printmaker born in Russia, who emigrated with his family to the United States in 1912. He studied art at Cooper Union, followed by instruction at the Ferrer Art School in Harlem, where he studied with Robert Henri and George Bellows, members of the Ashcan school. Following his first solo exhibition in 1926, he won a scholarship that allowed him to study drawing in Europe. Upon his return, Soyer began teaching at the Contemporary Art School and The New School in New York. His work was inspired by the fabric of city life, which he presented in a realistic and unsentimental way. During the Depression, Soyer was employed by the Works Progress Administration, which commissioned several murals by him at public buildings across the country. After his WPA work was completed, Soyer devoted much of his work to the depiction of the human figure, particularly of dancers. He died at Hampton Bays, New York.