Aadil Salahuddin (born 1944 in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

) is

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

's foremost stamp designer with over 2000 stamp designs to his name. Of these, 400 have been printed including nearly 50 for other countries of the world.

Early life and education

Adil Salahuddin was born in 1944 at

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. His parents moved to

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest ...

, Pakistan when he was two years old. He joined the

National College of Arts The National College of Arts (colloquially known as NCA) is a public university located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Overview National College of Arts - A Federal Chartered Institute is the oldest art school in Pakistan and the second oldest i ...

(NCA),

in 1962, graduating in 1965 in miniature painting. He was a contemporary of, amongst others,

Bashir Mirza Bashir Mirza (1941 – 19 January 2000), also known as BM, was a Pakistani painter artist. Early life and education Born in Amritsar, British India in 1941, Mirza joined the Mayo School of Arts (now National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore ...

Salahuddin Mian Salahuddin Mian (1938 – 28 February 2006) was Pakistan's first ceramic or pottery artist. He was born Mian Salahuddin.''Early life and family life'' in Born of Fire, Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi, Pakistan, edited ...

and Ahmed Khan. He attended this art college in Lahore without telling his parents. At that time, he let them think that he was studying to be an engineer. He was guided and taught by the so-called 'father of modern painting in Pakistan', Shakir Ali, the principal of NCA at that time and another miniaturist and well-known artist of Pakistan, Haji Mohammad Sharif.

Career

Adil Salahuddin used to collect and study postage stamps as a hobby, when he was a child. In 1965, he was invited by a fellow artist

to move to

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former ...

where that artist had already opened up a new art gallery.

Designer

He was employed between 1967 and 2002, by Pakistan Security Printing Corporation in its design department in

. It was during this period that he designed these stamps. This corporation was responsible for designing Pakistan's currency notes, postage stamps and cheque books for banks. He retired from this job in 2002 after 35 years of service. During his career, Adil Salahuddin has done sculptures, portraits, paintings and calligraphy besides doing miniature art. He is best known for designing hundreds of postage stamps for the Pakistan Post Office. Salahuddin believes that art must be protected and preserved. So he has donated his collection of 200 albums of postage stamps from 116 countries to the State Bank of Pakistan Museum & Art Gallery.

Awards and recognition

Pride of Performance The Pride of Performance ( ur, ), officially known as Presidential Pride of Performance, is an award bestowed by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to recognize people with "notable achievements in the field of art, science, literature, sports, an ...

Award by the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.Economic Cooperation Organization The Economic Cooperation Organization or ECO is an Asian political and economic intergovernmental organization that was founded in 1985 in Tehran by the leaders of Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey. It provides a platform to discuss ways to improve de ...

(ECO) countries – (

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

) and awarded a gold medal at the exhibition, ECOPHILEX '86 *

Sitara-i-Imtiaz The Sitara-e-Imtiaz () also spelled as Sitara-i-Imtiaz, is the third-highest (in the order of "Imtiaz") honour and civilian award in the State of Pakistan. It recognizes individuals who have made an "especially meritorious contribution to the ...

(Star of Excellence) Award by the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.List of civil award winners
Dawn (newspaper), Published 16 August 2009, Retrieved 7 May 2020

References

Pakistani artists People from Lahore Pakistani stamp designers Living people National College of Arts alumni Recipients of the Pride of Performance Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz Philately of Pakistan 1944 births {{Philately-stub