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RAPHAEL SOYER   -1-   INTERVIEW: 9/3/69

Sr:  Now, Mr. Soyer, we are interested at first in finding out some of your thoughts about where your ideas for your paintings come from.

RS:  From life. From what I see around me. And also -- influences from work of artists whose work I admire.

SR:  Can you tell us any more about what you mean by life around you.

RS:  What I see with my eyes. What I see. People. Mostly. 

SR:  People in the street.

RS:  Men, women, children, in the street or indoors. Actually it's portraits within their habitats --- context of their lives.

SR:  Do you go out to the areas.

RS:  Yes. I go out a lot and look. I like to look.

SR:  You don't paint outside, you look.

RS:  No. Never. I work on street scenes or landscapes outside. But not paint people outside. At times I made drawings, but that was a long time ago. I would draw out of doors, outside. That was when I was young. Now I bring the world into my studio.

SR:  Through your own eyes.

RS:  Yes. In other words, I observe things. And then I get people to actually pose for me in the -- with the gestures and movements that I have observed.

SR:  Are these the same people that you saw or are they professional models.
 
RS:  No. No. No. They are not the same people. I mean, it's people who come to pose for me. But I would never stop anybody in the street and ask him or her to pose for me.