Selahattin Tuğa, one of the engraving artists of the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye, has his name imprinted as S.TUĞA on the Mustafa Kemal Atatürk portrait and the Bosphorus view on the sixth issue 1.000 Lira banknotes. (*42, p 133).
He is also the engraver who produced the Atatürk portraits on the seventh-edition 10 Lira and 5.000 Lira banknotes.
Selahattin Tuğa was born in Diyarbakır in 1945. He completed his primary and secondary education in Diyarbakır and graduated from the Decorative Arts Department of the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts in 1966.
As a student at the academy, he engraved pictures and portraits on copper plates. Due to these engravings, he was recommended to the Banknot Printing House engraving workshop and after the entrance exam, he started working at the CBRT Banknot Printing House engraving workshop in 1966. During his internship, he received his first information about the taydus (taille-douce, soft carving) engraving technique from Polish engraving artist Jan Piwczyk.
Instead of direct engraving by hand, he transferred the linear portraits onto copper plates via a photomechanical method, etched them with acid and used the deepening method with engraving pens.
In the second half of the 1970s, he made the engraving of the portrait of Atatürk on the front of the E-6 series 1.000 TL banknote, and the Rumelian Fortress Bosphorus view on the back, including the Bosphorus Bridge. The graphic design of the banknote was made by Mustafa Üstün.
When preparations for the E-7 series small-sized banknotes began in 1978, he produced the Atatürk portrait on the 10 Lira and 5.000 TL banknotes of the of the E-7 series.
In 1985, he made the front and back graphic designs of the second series of the E-7 5,000 TL. He served as assistant manager between 1979 and 1990 and then served as a consultant until his retirement.
Selahattin Tuğa, who also designed countless National Lottery tickets, is also the designer and engraver of many stamps *1. Atatürk portraits on stamps of various years, the portrait of İsmet İnönü, and the “Turkish Celebrities” series of 1992 and 1993 are few of many.
In addition to these works, he engraved portraits on copper plates on decorative items. He also made watercolor paintings of the subjects on the front of the National Lottery tickets, and supervised the color separation, mold and printing stages of these tickets printed in the banknote printing house.
Selahattin Tuğa, who exhibited Atatürk portrait engravings and oil paintings in his personal exhibitions, passed away in 2023.
[1] stamp images: Pulhane.com
[2] “Selahattin Tuğa, Selahattin Tuğa, Oil Painting Exhibition, Destek Reassurance Art Gallery, İstanbul“, Salt Research
(We would like to express our sincere thanks to his family and also to Mr. Mustafa Çakırcalı, who provided valuable information about Selahattin Tuğa in our article.)
* Click for other artists whose work has been used in the design of Turkish currency.
