Mustafa Halim Özyazıcı
1898–1964 · Istanbul
Mustafa Halim Özyazıcı was born in Istanbul on 14 January 1898; his father was a clog-maker from Crimea and his mother was Sudanese. At school his calligraphy teacher, Hamid Aytaç, noticed his talent. In 1915 he moved to the new Medresetü'l-Hattâtîn, where he studied thuluth and naskh with Hasan Rızâ and Kâmil Akdik, ta'liq with Hulusi Yazgan, jali thuluth and tughra with İsmail Hakkı Altunbezer and diwani with Ferid Bey. He graduated with an icazet in 1918. Until 1928 he ran a calligraphy office in Bâbıâli; when the alphabet change ended that trade, he applied to move to Egypt, was turned down, and grew grapes for a time. From the 1930s he renewed mosque inscriptions for the Directorate of Foundations, and from 1946 to 1963 he taught at the Academy of Fine Arts. He wrote large jali thuluth straight onto the surface without first enlarging a small draft. He died on 30 September 1964, ten days after a traffic accident.
Achievements
- Graduated from the Medresetü'l-Hattâtîn on 6 October 1918 with an icazet in jali thuluth and tughra.
- Renewed the dome inscriptions of the Yavuz Selim, Bâlîpaşa, Azapkapı Sokullu and Kadırga Sokullu mosques in Istanbul for the Directorate of Foundations.
- Wrote the dome and belt inscriptions of Maltepe Mosque, Ankara (completed 1958).
- Rewrote the 16th-century inscriptions of Hasan Çelebi in the Süleymaniye Mosque during its 1960 restoration.
- Taught calligraphy at the State Academy of Fine Arts from 1946 until 1963.
- Passed on court diwani to his student Ali Alparslan; his model sheets are still printed for students.
Taught by: Hamid Aytaç, Hacı Hasan Rıza Efendi, Kâmil Akdik, Mehmed Hulusi Yazgan (Hulusi Efendi), İsmail Hakkı Altunbezer, Ferid Bey, Said Bey
Taught: Ali Alparslan, Mustafa Bekir Pekten, Saim Özel, Recep Berk, Aydın Yüksel, Ali Rüştü Oran, Mehmet Uzunoğlu, Baha Doğramacı, Hasan Çelebi
His work
No work of certain attribution is yet in an open collection we may publish.
Write in the tradition this hand shaped.
Write in this tradition now →Living calligraphers you can buy from — signed originals on paper, from AED 550: Anwar Alhulwani (Thuluth) · Ahmed Alhawary (Jali Thuluth, Naskh) · Rasha Kasim (Kufi) — or every Thuluth piece the store makes: Thuluth collection.
Sources
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 'ÖZYAZICI, Mustafa Halim' by M. Uğur Derman (2007): birth 14 Jan 1898 Etyemez, parents, teachers, icazet 6 Oct 1918, career, Egypt application, mosque inscriptions, Academy 1946–1963, students, death 30 Sep 1964, Kozlu islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
- English Wikipedia: life, Academy appointment given as 1948, exercise books en.wikipedia.org
- Turkish Wikipedia: diwani passed to Ali Alparslan; mosques; 1946–1963 Academy tr.wikipedia.org
- Arabic Wikipedia: Arabic name; 21 Sha'ban 1315 / 14 Jan 1898; 24 Jumada I 1384 / 30 Sep 1964 ar.wikipedia.org
- Wikidata item wikidata.org
Written by the MASHQ studio · last updated 2026-10-05. Further reading, the standard references in English: Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy (Edinburgh University Press, 2006) · Annemarie Schimmel, Calligraphy and Islamic Culture (New York University Press, 1984) · Yasin Hamid Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy (Thames and Hudson, 1978).