Rei Toriyama is a working artist, as well as the executive director of O Art Museum in Tokyo and a senior counselor for the Tokyo University of the Arts.
She is also on the Management Committee of JJA (Japan Artists Association), and Director of the Shinagawa Culture Foundation.
Born in 1955, Toriyama received a BA and an MA in Japanese traditional painting at the Tokyo University of the Arts. She completed the course work for a PhD.
She also completed the research program in preservation science and art education at the Tokyo University of the Arts.
As the Executive Director of O Art Museum, Toriyama curated exhibitions including “The 100th Anniversary of the Birth of the First Female Photo Journalist ~ Tsuneko Sasamoto” (2015), “Ballade of Light ~ Eiichi Hasegawa” (2016), “Painter Keiji Hayashi” (2017), “ Assemblage of Autumnal Colors ~ Amelie Hayashi” (2018), “Voyage of Etching ~ Tadayoshi Nakabayashi” (2019), “Look Now ~ Our Town” (2020).
Toriyama also oversees the management of Aizumi Art Museum at the Tokyo University of the Arts.
Toriyama has lectured at the Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo University of Social Welfare, Hosen Gakuen College, and numerous community-based colleges. For her contribution in art education, she received the Hakuhodo Award and the Minister of Education in 2007.
Her publications include “To Look Back on the Year” (New Art Journal, Bijutsu-Nenkansha Co. Ltd. 2019), “Proposal Report—Thoughts on the mission and role of museums in East Asia” (O Art Museum’s catalog 2015), “Mimesis and Succession～Drawings in Shinichi Nakamura’s Youth Diary” (Suiseisha 2014), “Tribute to Japanese-style painter, Ikuo Hirayama” (Geijutsu Shincho, February 2010 issue), “The Mission and Role of Museums–Place where a New World is Born and Open Up” (AJJ League News Vol. 461) among many others.
She co-authored with the renowned art historian Kunio Motoe “Tatsuya Ishidori’s Work Vol.3” (Kyuryudo Art-Publishing Co. 2017) .