Koiso Ryōhei
Year unknown
Mezzotint
From Mr. I’s Collection
Koiso Ryōhei
1903-1988
Born in Hyogo Prefecture. Koiso studied at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and won a special award at the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition in the first year of Showa. Later, he went to France, where he was trained in Western painting. After returning to Japan, he formed the Shinseisaku Art Society with Inokuma Genichirō and others. He painted many portraits, including portraits of innocent-looking females. He received the Asahi Prize in 1940 and the Japan Art Academy Prize in 1942. After the war, he became a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts, where he researched the classical techniques of European paintings and how they influenced Japan. He was at the forefront of the Western painting world, and created murals for the Akasaka Palace State Guest House in Akasaka, Tokyo.