The Waitress

Isaac Soyer, The Waitress, ca. 1934-1939, pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Evander Childs High School, Bronx, New York through the General Services Administration, 1975.83.111
Isaac Soyer, The Waitress, ca. 1934-1939, pencil on paper, sheet: 18 3417 in. (47.543.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Evander Childs High School, Bronx, New York through the General Services Administration, 1975.83.111

Artwork Details

Title
The Waitress
Artist
Date
ca. 1934-1939
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
sheet: 18 3417 in. (47.543.1 cm)
Credit Line
Transfer from the Evander Childs High School, Bronx, New York through the General Services Administration
Mediums
Mediums Description
pencil on paper
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure group
  • Occupation — service — waiter
  • Architecture Interior — commercial — restaurant
Object Number
1975.83.111

Artwork Description

“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.

Graphic Masters II: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2009

Works by this artist (1 item)

Alfonso Ossorio, Double Portrait, 1944, watercolor and black ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1993.70
Double Portrait
Date1944
watercolor and black ink on paper
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

Aaron Sopher, The Oriole, 1934, pen and ink and watercolor on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Olin Dows, 1983.90.180
The Oriole
Date1934
pen and ink and watercolor on paper
Not on view
John Banks, To Much Fun? In the Wrong Place, 1980s, colored pencil, watercolor and felt-tipped pen on poster board, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.104
To Much Fun? In the Wrong Place
Date1980s
colored pencil, watercolor and felt-tipped pen on poster board
Not on view
William H. Johnson, Portrait of William H. Johnson, ca. 1930-1938, pen and ink and watercolor with pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.490
Portrait of William H. Johnson
Artist
Dateca. 1930-1938
pen and ink and watercolor with pencil on paper
Not on view
Robert Andrew Parker, "Liberty does not consist in mere general declarations of the rights of men. It consists in the translation of those declarations into definite action."--Woodrow Wilson, Address, Independence Hall, July 4, 1914. From the series Great Ideas of Western Man., 1956, pen and ink and watercolor on paper mounted on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Container Corporation of America, 1984.124.234
Liberty does not consist in mere general declarations of…
Date1956
pen and ink and watercolor on paper mounted on paperboard
Not on view