Born in Russia, Raphael along with his brothers Isaac and Moses learned drawing from their father. Raphael later studied at the Art Students League, Cooper Union and the National Academy. He has been honored with many solo exhibitions including a major retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Soyer was awarded membership in the National Institute of Arts and Letters. His works are in the permanent collections at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Brooklyn Museum, the Whitney, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Corcoran Gallery. Soyer had a distinguished career as a printmaker, painter, teacher and author.