{"data":{"id":"10492","type":"artwork","attributes":{"id":10492,"topgoose_id":4145,"portfolio_id":null,"tms_id":10492,"title":"Bowery Nocturne","display_artist_text":"Raphael Soyer","display_date":"1933","accession_number":"96.68.253","dimensions":"Sheet (Irregular): 15 3/16 × 21 3/8 in. (38.6 × 54.3 cm)\r\nImage: 12 3/4 × 17 7/8 in. (32.4 × 45.4 cm)","medium":"Lithograph","department":"collection","classification":"Prints","credit_line":"Purchase, with funds from The Lauder Foundation, Leonard and Evelyn Lauder Fund","is_virtual":false,"is_portfolio":false,"portfolio_tms_id":null,"portfolio":null,"edition":"Ed. 25","publication_info":"Printed by George C. Miller","description":"\u003cp\u003eRaphael Soyer, \u003cem\u003eBowery Nocturne\u003c/em\u003e, 1933. Lithograph, sheet (Irregular): 15 3/16 × 21 3/8 in. (38.6 × 54.3 cm)\r\nImage: 12 3/4 × 17 7/8 in. (32.4 × 45.4 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from The Lauder Foundation, Leonard and Evelyn Lauder Fund 96.68.253. © 1987, Raphael Soyer Estate\u003c/p\u003e","object_label":"\u003cp\u003eRaphael Soyer considered \u003ci\u003eBowery Nocturne\u003c/i\u003e, along with the companion image \u003ci\u003eThe Mission\u003c/i\u003e, among his most important lithographs (both were preparatory studies for paintings). The work pictures several men gathered at a restaurant. The lettering on the background sign derives from a photograph that artist Ben Shahn took and gave to Soyer, but no unified narrative is implied. While Soyer is often categorized among the Social Realists of the 1920s and 1930s, here he is interested in the men as individuals, foregoing a direct commentary on the social concerns of the Great Depression. The denizens of \u003ci\u003eBowery Nocturne\u003c/i\u003e may be ordinary and nameless, but they are distinguished from one another by their clothing, hats, physiognomies, actions, and expressions. Soyer’s careful differentiation of each man encourages the viewer’s attentiveness and imagination.\u003c/p\u003e","ai_alt_text":"A group of men in hats crowd a dim room while one man lights a pipe.","alt_text":null,"visual_description":null,"on_view":false,"created_at":"2017-08-30T15:49:15.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-02-06T11:59:43.563-05:00","images":[{"id":101322,"url":"https://whitneymedia.org/assets/artwork/10492/96_68_253_cropped.jpg"}]},"relationships":{"artists":{"data":[{"id":"1256","type":"artist"}]}}}}