Shirakawa onna (Shirakawa woman)

Koiso Ryohei is one of the masters of Japanese western-style painting. Educated at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, he studied under the eminent teacher of his time, Fujishima Takeji, and graduated at the top of his class in 1927. Among his fellow students were Inokuma Genichiro, Oguiss Takanori, Okada Kenzo and Yamaguchi Takeo. In 1928 he moved to Paris and travelled throughout Europe for two years to immerse himself in western art, winning a prize for a painting of a woman in a Salon d'Automne exhibition. He returned to Japan in 1930. Koiso was fascinated with the culture of women and his portraits are finely realized interpretations of the modern female figure. From 1953 until 1971 he taught painting at Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music. Koiso received the Order of Cultural Merit in 1983. In 1991 an exhibition of his work, Koiso Ryohei isaku ten (Posthumous exhibition of Koiso Ryohei), was held at the following venues in Japan: the Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, the Nagoya City Museum, the Hyogo Prefectural Modern Museum, the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Museum, and the Fukuoka City Museum.