![elaine wolf express news elaine wolf express news](https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/139/590x/secondary/Elaine-Laing-2126693.jpg)
She acknowledged it was her experience at Wits that informed her decision to place work of different artists and time frames, for example the historical African and contemporary work in the exhibition.
![elaine wolf express news elaine wolf express news](https://imaging.broadway.com/images/regular-43/w1470/114061-13.jpg)
Martin took on the role of director of the South African National Gallery in Cape Town from Raymond van Niekerk (BDS 1953) in 1990. She registered to do a master’s in architectural history and was soon appointed as a lecturer of the history of art and architecture in the Department of Architecture. She stayed for five years and later moved to Wits in Johannesburg, where she initially worked at the university’s Performing Arts Centre, doing administration “because I couldn’t get a teaching job without a master’s degree”. She was a single mother with two children and was offered a position as a lecturer in art history at the University of Durban-Westville after her husband moved to Scotland after their divorce. She completed her honours degree in history of art from the University of South Africa.
![elaine wolf express news elaine wolf express news](https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/79/590x/489892_1.jpg)
She started university at the age of 23, working at a newspaper in various capacities and said she had always been “passionate about writing”. “I think we all have strengths, and I was good at every other subject, and there was a productive life outside numbers,” she said in a 2019 interview. Martin grew up in Roberson and Heidelberg and admitted having struggled with maths and numbers. According to news reports she completed her last book from a hospital bed on her cellphone, and her third book had three chapters finalised. She was an architectural historian with research interests in early twentieth century modernism and the former head of the Iziko National Art Museum. Respected curator, lecturer and author Marilyn Martin (MArch 1981) died on in Oranjezicht, Cape Town from cancer.