Nao TSUDA
津田直
Nao Tsuda is a photographer who has been showing his landscape photographs since 2001. The main series of works include, “Coming Closer” (2001-2004), “Kogi” (2005-2009), “SMOKE LINE” (2008), “Rera Faraway” (2009), “Storm Last Night” (2010), “REBORN” (2010-), “Earth Rain House” (2012), “SAMELAND”(2014), “NAGA”(2015), “Tribute from Green Forest”(2015), and “Elnias Forest”(2018). Number of works from these series have been shown internationally. With his unique view toward nature and his sincere approach to a timeless theme: the relationship between photography and time, Tsuda is spotlighted as a cutting-edge, who is cultivating a new trend of the landscape photography in 21st century. He photographs objects, such as lakes, surface of mountains, cloudy fogs, winds and paths of the moon from hardly distinguishable distances or angles in an effort to break out of, or beyond the limit of photographic expression. In recent years, Tsuda has been actively showing his works not only at galleries, but also in solo and group exhibitions at museums.
In 2010, Tsuda won the Minister of Educational Award for New Artist in Fine Arts. Since 2017, he has been taking office as a visiting professor of Osaka University of Arts.
His publications include “Kogi” (MONDE BOOKS), “SMOKE LINE” (AKAAKA), “Coming Closer” (AKAAKA+hiromiyoshii), “Storm Last Night” (AKAAKA), “SAMELAND” (limArt), “NAGA” (limArt), “IHEYA・IZENA” (limArt), “TRIBUTE FROM GREEN FOREST” (YOSHIDA & CO., LTD.), “Elnias Forest” (handpicked) , “Eventually, Deer Become Men / Eventually, Men Become Deer” (handpicked), Nao Tsuda + Marihiko Hara “TORAINOASHIOTO” (Sayusha). The latest book is “Hasu no Utena” (Dojima River Forum).
Chronology
In 1976, born in Kobe as great-great-grandson of Takamori Saigo and second son of Takamitsu Saigo, Nao Tsuda was named Takanao Saigo. And in 2000, he changed his name to Nao Tsuda after being adopted by his maternal grandfather, Makoto Tsuda (adopted son of Umeko Tsuda, founder of Tsuda University) to succeed Tsuda name.
In 2019, at the same time as era name changed from Heisei to Reiwa, he dissolved the adoption, returning to his former Saigo name, transferring his daughter to become his successor of Umeko Tsuda family. His artist name remains to be Nao Tsuda.
In 2019, at the same time as era name changed from Heisei to Reiwa, he dissolved the adoption, returning to his former Saigo name, transferring his daughter to become his successor of Umeko Tsuda family. His artist name remains to be Nao Tsuda.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022 - Nao Tsuda + Marihiko Hara TORAINOASHIOTO-Waves turned into rocks and came to a rest at mounds, ART MUSEUM & LIBRARY, OTA, Gunma
2019 - Eyes of the Lake and Mother Mountain Plate, Yatsugatake Museum of Art (Hara Village Folk and Historical Heritage Resource Center), Nagano
2018 - Elnias Forest, GINZA TSUTAYA BOOKS, Tokyo
2018 - Elnias Forest, Moriokashoten, Tokyo
2018 - Elnias Forest, evam eva yamanashi, Yamanashi
2018 - Tranquility at the Shore, Bunshokan in Dazaifutenmangu, Fukuoka
2018 - Elnias Forest, Mitsubishijisho ARTIUM, Fukuoka
2016 - IHEYA・IZENA Traveling Exhibition, D&DEPARTMENT Okinawa, Seoul, Hokkaido, Fukuoka
2016 - IHEYA・IZENA, POST, Tokyo
2016 - Grassland Tears, Taka Ishii Gallery Photography / Film, Tokyo
2015 - Tribute from Green Forest, KURA CHIKA YOSHIDA OMOTESANDO the PORTER Gallery, Tokyo
2015 - NAGA, POST, Tokyo
2014 - REBORN (Scene 2) ― Platinum Print Series, Taka Ishii Gallery Modern, Tokyo
2014 - On the Mountain Path, Gallery 916, Tokyo
2014 - SAMELAND, POST, Tokyo
2013 - NORTHERN FOREST, T.O.D.A., Tochigi
2012 - Storm Last Night / Earth Rain House, CANON GALLERY S, Tokyo
2012 - REBORN “Tulkus’ Mountain (Scene 1) ”, Taka Ishii Gallery Kyoto, Kyoto
2012 - BACK DOOR -the whereabouts of cherry blossoms- , project room sasao, Akita
2011 - Stories Inside a Sleeve – Kogi, Seian University of Art and Design, Shiga
REBORN “Tulkus’ Mountain（Scene 1) ”, hiromiyoshii, Tokyo
2009 - Rera Faraway, Ichinomiya City Memorial Art Museum of Setsuko Migishi, Aichi
2008 - Kogi, hiromiyoshii, Tokyo
2008 - SMOKE FACE, NADiff Gallery, Tokyo
2008 - SMOKE LINE, Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo
2008 - Vally Voyager, graf media gm, Osaka
2008 - Kogi, John Connelly Presents, New York, U.S.A.
2006 - Beyond Sleeping, Gallery Kai, Osaka
2006 - niwa(Nao Tsuda & Ryo Suzuki), knot, hiromiyoshii, Tokyo
2005 - Rowing Out, Monde Books, Osaka
2004 - Coming Closer – Yellow, Gallery Kai, Osaka
2004 - Coming Closer, hiromiyoshii, Tokyo
2003 - Coming Closer- Foggy Mountain, Light Works, Kanagawa (Organized by Masafumi FUKAGAWA)
2003 - Coming Closer – Unseen Flowers, Gallery Kai, Osaka
2003 - Coming Closer – Slow is beautiful, Kojimachi Gallery, Tokyo
2003 - Coming Closer – just beforet・just after , Gallery Kai, Osaka
2002 - Coming Closer – A different place, Gallery Kai, Osaka
2001 - Faraway Closeness, Gallery Kai, Osaka
2019 - Eyes of the Lake and Mother Mountain Plate, Yatsugatake Museum of Art (Hara Village Folk and Historical Heritage Resource Center), Nagano
2018 - Elnias Forest, GINZA TSUTAYA BOOKS, Tokyo
2018 - Elnias Forest, Moriokashoten, Tokyo
2018 - Elnias Forest, evam eva yamanashi, Yamanashi
2018 - Tranquility at the Shore, Bunshokan in Dazaifutenmangu, Fukuoka
2018 - Elnias Forest, Mitsubishijisho ARTIUM, Fukuoka
2016 - IHEYA・IZENA Traveling Exhibition, D&DEPARTMENT Okinawa, Seoul, Hokkaido, Fukuoka
2016 - IHEYA・IZENA, POST, Tokyo
2016 - Grassland Tears, Taka Ishii Gallery Photography / Film, Tokyo
2015 - Tribute from Green Forest, KURA CHIKA YOSHIDA OMOTESANDO the PORTER Gallery, Tokyo
2015 - NAGA, POST, Tokyo
2014 - REBORN (Scene 2) ― Platinum Print Series, Taka Ishii Gallery Modern, Tokyo
2014 - On the Mountain Path, Gallery 916, Tokyo
2014 - SAMELAND, POST, Tokyo
2013 - NORTHERN FOREST, T.O.D.A., Tochigi
2012 - Storm Last Night / Earth Rain House, CANON GALLERY S, Tokyo
2012 - REBORN “Tulkus’ Mountain (Scene 1) ”, Taka Ishii Gallery Kyoto, Kyoto
2012 - BACK DOOR -the whereabouts of cherry blossoms- , project room sasao, Akita
2011 - Stories Inside a Sleeve – Kogi, Seian University of Art and Design, Shiga
REBORN “Tulkus’ Mountain（Scene 1) ”, hiromiyoshii, Tokyo
2009 - Rera Faraway, Ichinomiya City Memorial Art Museum of Setsuko Migishi, Aichi
2008 - Kogi, hiromiyoshii, Tokyo
2008 - SMOKE FACE, NADiff Gallery, Tokyo
2008 - SMOKE LINE, Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo
2008 - Vally Voyager, graf media gm, Osaka
2008 - Kogi, John Connelly Presents, New York, U.S.A.
2006 - Beyond Sleeping, Gallery Kai, Osaka
2006 - niwa(Nao Tsuda & Ryo Suzuki), knot, hiromiyoshii, Tokyo
2005 - Rowing Out, Monde Books, Osaka
2004 - Coming Closer – Yellow, Gallery Kai, Osaka
2004 - Coming Closer, hiromiyoshii, Tokyo
2003 - Coming Closer- Foggy Mountain, Light Works, Kanagawa (Organized by Masafumi FUKAGAWA)
2003 - Coming Closer – Unseen Flowers, Gallery Kai, Osaka
2003 - Coming Closer – Slow is beautiful, Kojimachi Gallery, Tokyo
2003 - Coming Closer – just beforet・just after , Gallery Kai, Osaka
2002 - Coming Closer – A different place, Gallery Kai, Osaka
2001 - Faraway Closeness, Gallery Kai, Osaka
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 - TOHOKU − Though the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, National Institute of Design Gandhinagar Campus, Ahmedabad, India, The Cholamandal Artists’ Village, Chennai, India, Japan Foundation, New Delhi, New Delhi, India, etc.
2021 - Zetsubowo kutsugaesukotogadekinaikoiwo seigitoseyo, kimiga shindemo nokoruhana. Mitsubishijisho ARTIUM, Fukuoka
2021 - Reborn-Art ONLINE “THE WHEREABOUTS OF DEER” Online exhibition
2020 - Jonas Mekas Special 2/ Hello again “Glimpses of Beauty, Roji in SUNDAY, Tokyo
2020 - TOHOKU − Though the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, Art Station Dubulti, Riga, Latvia, National Museum of Anthropology David J. Guzman, San Salvador, El Salvador, Listasafn Árnesinga, Hveragerði city, Iceland, etc.
2019 - The amana collection Exhibit 04 – Ryudai Takano, Nao Tsuda, IMA gallery, Tokyo
2019 - Reborn-Art Festival 2019, Oshika Peninsula, Ajishima, Central Ishinomaki, Matsushima Bay, Miyagi
2019 - TOHOKU − Though the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, Salah Taher Gallery, Cairo Opera House, Cairo, Egypt, Cultural Center of the City “Carlos Colombino”, Manzana de la Rivera, Asuncion, Paraguay, Contemporary Art Center Quito, Quito, Ecuador, etc.
2018 - A Beautiful Moment, Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography, Amsterdam, Netherland
2018 -TOHOKU − Though the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, La Rotonde des Arts 2018 -Contemporains, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Institut Francais, Cotonou, Benin, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon, etc.
2017 - TOHOKU − Though the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, Sakhalin Art Museum, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia, Far Eastern Art Museum, Khabarovsk, Russia, Convencion de Fransisco de Asis, La Habana, Cuba, etc.
2016 - Paris Photo 2016, GRAND PALAIS, Paris, France
Form of Landscape in Photographs by Shinzo Maeda and Japanese Contemporary Photographers, Ashikaga Museum of Art, Tochigi
2016 - INCIDENTS 2016, Hachinohe Shuzou Co., LTD., Aomori
2016 - TOHOKU − Though the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, Centro Cultural São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Cermodern, Ankara, Turkey, Pakistan National Council of the Arts, Islamabad, Pakistan, etc.
2015 - Paris Photo 2015, GRAND PALAIS, Paris, France
2015 - SHOWCASE “stands”, Omotesando Hills SPACE O, Tokyo
2015 - TOHOKU Through the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, PostModernism Museum, Bucharest, Romania, Tupou Tertiary Institute Hall, Nuku’alofa, Tonga, Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, Hanoi, Vietnam, etc.
2014 - Paris Photo 2014, GRAND PALAIS, Paris, France
2014 - TOHOKU-Through the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, Museum of the Radvilas Palace, Vilnius, Lithuania, Rosa Parks Museum, Montgomery, U.S.A., Fukushima Museum, Fukushima, Japan, etc.
2013 - Gelatin Silver Session 2013 – Save The Film- , AXIS Gallery, Tokyo
TOHOKU-Through the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, National Museum of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines, Seattle Center Pavilion, Seattle, U.S.A., National Library of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Croatian Academy of Science and Art Gliptoteka, Zagreb, Croatia, etc.
2012 - Gelatin Silver Session 2012 – Save The Film- , AXIS Gallery, Tokyo
Kasetsu / Nao Tsuda｜Not necessarily in far distance, hiromiyoshii roppongi, Tokyo
2012 - VOCA 2012 ‘Vision of Contemporary Art’, The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo
TOHOKU-Through the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, Beijing World Art Museum, Beijing, China, City of Perth, Council House, Perth, Australia, etc.
2010 - Keisuke Maeda – Nao Tsuda, L.A.Galerie, Frankfurt
2010 - 126 POLAROID, Yokohama Museum, Kanagawa
2009 - Take me out to the Wonder Forest, Musee d’art Mercian, Nagano
2008 - Paris Photo 08, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris
2007 - Biwako Biennale 2007, Ogashoten, Shiga
2006 - Japanese Point of View, Encounter in Fukushima, Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, Fukushima
2005 - Visions on the movie vol.2, graf media gm, Osaka
2005 - Matrix of the Contemporary Photography 2005 Site Graphics, Kawasaki City Museum, Kanagawa
2021 - Zetsubowo kutsugaesukotogadekinaikoiwo seigitoseyo, kimiga shindemo nokoruhana. Mitsubishijisho ARTIUM, Fukuoka
2021 - Reborn-Art ONLINE “THE WHEREABOUTS OF DEER” Online exhibition
2020 - Jonas Mekas Special 2/ Hello again “Glimpses of Beauty, Roji in SUNDAY, Tokyo
2020 - TOHOKU − Though the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, Art Station Dubulti, Riga, Latvia, National Museum of Anthropology David J. Guzman, San Salvador, El Salvador, Listasafn Árnesinga, Hveragerði city, Iceland, etc.
2019 - The amana collection Exhibit 04 – Ryudai Takano, Nao Tsuda, IMA gallery, Tokyo
2019 - Reborn-Art Festival 2019, Oshika Peninsula, Ajishima, Central Ishinomaki, Matsushima Bay, Miyagi
2019 - TOHOKU − Though the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, Salah Taher Gallery, Cairo Opera House, Cairo, Egypt, Cultural Center of the City “Carlos Colombino”, Manzana de la Rivera, Asuncion, Paraguay, Contemporary Art Center Quito, Quito, Ecuador, etc.
2018 - A Beautiful Moment, Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography, Amsterdam, Netherland
2018 -TOHOKU − Though the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, La Rotonde des Arts 2018 -Contemporains, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Institut Francais, Cotonou, Benin, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon, etc.
2017 - TOHOKU − Though the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, Sakhalin Art Museum, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia, Far Eastern Art Museum, Khabarovsk, Russia, Convencion de Fransisco de Asis, La Habana, Cuba, etc.
2016 - Paris Photo 2016, GRAND PALAIS, Paris, France
Form of Landscape in Photographs by Shinzo Maeda and Japanese Contemporary Photographers, Ashikaga Museum of Art, Tochigi
2016 - INCIDENTS 2016, Hachinohe Shuzou Co., LTD., Aomori
2016 - TOHOKU − Though the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, Centro Cultural São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Cermodern, Ankara, Turkey, Pakistan National Council of the Arts, Islamabad, Pakistan, etc.
2015 - Paris Photo 2015, GRAND PALAIS, Paris, France
2015 - SHOWCASE “stands”, Omotesando Hills SPACE O, Tokyo
2015 - TOHOKU Through the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, PostModernism Museum, Bucharest, Romania, Tupou Tertiary Institute Hall, Nuku’alofa, Tonga, Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, Hanoi, Vietnam, etc.
2014 - Paris Photo 2014, GRAND PALAIS, Paris, France
2014 - TOHOKU-Through the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, Museum of the Radvilas Palace, Vilnius, Lithuania, Rosa Parks Museum, Montgomery, U.S.A., Fukushima Museum, Fukushima, Japan, etc.
2013 - Gelatin Silver Session 2013 – Save The Film- , AXIS Gallery, Tokyo
TOHOKU-Through the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, National Museum of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines, Seattle Center Pavilion, Seattle, U.S.A., National Library of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Croatian Academy of Science and Art Gliptoteka, Zagreb, Croatia, etc.
2012 - Gelatin Silver Session 2012 – Save The Film- , AXIS Gallery, Tokyo
Kasetsu / Nao Tsuda｜Not necessarily in far distance, hiromiyoshii roppongi, Tokyo
2012 - VOCA 2012 ‘Vision of Contemporary Art’, The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo
TOHOKU-Through the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, Beijing World Art Museum, Beijing, China, City of Perth, Council House, Perth, Australia, etc.
2010 - Keisuke Maeda – Nao Tsuda, L.A.Galerie, Frankfurt
2010 - 126 POLAROID, Yokohama Museum, Kanagawa
2009 - Take me out to the Wonder Forest, Musee d’art Mercian, Nagano
2008 - Paris Photo 08, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris
2007 - Biwako Biennale 2007, Ogashoten, Shiga
2006 - Japanese Point of View, Encounter in Fukushima, Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, Fukushima
2005 - Visions on the movie vol.2, graf media gm, Osaka
2005 - Matrix of the Contemporary Photography 2005 Site Graphics, Kawasaki City Museum, Kanagawa
