Ishikawa Toraji

Born in Köchi. He was a student of Koyama Shötarö. Toraji entered his paintings several times in the exhibitions of the Meiji Bijutsukai (‘Meiji Fine Arts Society’), and he was one of the founders of the Taiheiyö Gakai in 1901. He went to the United States in 1902, later to Europe and returned to Japan in 1904. Toraji participated in the Bunten, Teiten and Shin-bunten (‘New Bunten’), and eventually became an exhibition judge. In 1943 he was inaugurated as the Head of the Taiheiyö Bijutsu Gakkö (‘Pacific Art School’). In 1947 he joined the Jigenkai as a founder member. He contributed significantly to art education at the Tokyo Kötö Shihan Gakkö (‘Tokyo Normal School’) and the Tokyo University of Education. He received the Imperial Award of the Japan Art Academy in 1953. The originality of his series ‘Ten types of female nudes’ is reminiscent of the era. (The Female Image: 20th Century Prints of Japanese Beauties. Hotei Publishing, 2000).