Ishikawa Toraji was born in Kochi. He was a student of Koyama Shotaro. 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 Taiheiyo 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 Taiheiyo Bijutsu Gakko ('Pacific Art School'). In 1947 he joined the Jigenkai as an founder member. He contributed significantly to art education at the Tokyo Koto Shihan Gakko ('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. Source: Newland, Amy Riegle, The Female Image, Hotei Publishing, 2000