Moses Soyer was born on Christmas day in 1899 in Borisglebsk, Russia. He was one of three artistic brothers, the others being Raphael and Isaac. Raphael Soyer was Moses' identical twin. The Soyer brothers were raised in an intellectual atmosphere created by their father, a Hebrew scholar. In 1913, the Soyer family immigrated to the United States and eventually settled in New York City.

Moses Soyer's artistic studies began in 1916, and included classes in New York at Cooper Union, the National Academy of Design, the Educational Alliance Art School, and the Ferrer Art School, where he was influenced by his instructors Robert Henri and George Bellows. After traveling to Europe on a fellowship, Soyer taught at several schools until The Depression made such teaching positions scarce.

The Depression, in fact, set the mood for most of Soyer's art expression. The Works Project Administration provided him with work as well as the fellowship of other artists, but the era itself provided the social sentiments which permeate most of Soyer's work. Using some of the techniques of his favorite artists, such as Van Rijn Rembrandt and Gustave Courbet, he portrayed his subjects in the perseverance of hard work or in the uncertainty of unemployment. He was opposed to landscape painting, and pursued the opportunity to use art for the purpose of making realistic social statements about his time.

In 1926 Moses Soyer was awarded a fellowship to travel throughout Western Europe. His work was featured in a group show at J.B. Neumann’s Gallery where in 1929 he would have his first solo exhibition. Between 1927 and 1934 Soyer taught art classes at the Educational Alliance, Contemporary Art School, the New Art School and the New School for Social Research. Moses Soyer began his association with ACA Galleries in 1944 and has exhibited with the gallery ever since.

Moses Soyer’s work is in the permanent collections of numerous museums including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Brooklyn Museum of Art, NY; Museum of Modern Art, NY; Whitney Museum of Art, NY; Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA; Detroit Institute of Art, MI; Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, Walker Art Center, MN, and many others.