BETWEEN DREAMS AND REALITIES, a history of the South African National Gallery, 1871-2017

402pp., 4to., b/w & colour illus., paperback, Cape Town, 2019

"Meticulously researched and carefully written, this book is more than just a rich repository of information about an important public institution with high intentions. It is the painted life story of an organic body that was dedicated to idealistic pursuits and yet found itself bedevilled by egotism, materialism and official indifference. In making a striking and substantial contribution to the history of the South African National Gallery, Marilyn Martin presents a rich story, with perhaps more agony than ecstasy, of our constantly evolving South African aesthetic imagination." Albie Sachs, from his foreword

In 2001, after 11 years as Director of the South African National Gallery, Marilyn Martin was appointed Director of Art Collections for Iziko Museums. Prior to her career in the museum sector she was a senior lecturer in the Department of Architecture at the University of the Witwatersrand. Since her retirement in 2008 she has worked as an independent writer, curator and lecturer at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, where she is currently an Honorary Research Associate.