Early Years
Martjie Carter was born and raised in the Eastern Transvaal of South Africa, shere she grew up in a place surrounded by some of the country’s most beautiful habitats. It is a place where many of South Africa’s top artists choose to live. Having also grown up in an atmosphere of art, music and literature appreciation, her love for the arts and all things beautiful was firmly established.
Martjie’s talent and artistic abilities were recognised by her community at a young age, leading to regular portrait commissions as early as high school. One of these early portrait commissions was a portrait of C. J. Langenhoven, a writer and intellectual who wrote the words to the first national anthem. Prints with the anthem’s words were added and distributed to schools. One eventually graced the walls of the South African Embassy in France.
Early Recognition
In addition to her early career in portraiture, Martjie Carter continued in her expanded studies of the arts. She gained a reputation for fine art pencil drawings that combine abstract and surrealistic forms with realism. In 1988, some of these pencil works were represented in a nationally televised exhibition at the exclusive Aleta Michaletos Gallery in Pretoria. The exhibition, called “A World Beyond Our Vision”, explored the “religious, spiritual and mystical as expressed through art” and featured prominent South African artists like Judith Mason-Attwood, Bettie Cilliers-Barnard and the late Maud Sumner.
Music Career
Furthermore, her family encouraged her to pursue a professional music career, as she is also a gifted musician. Martjie Carter earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Pretoria University, with piano as her main instrument and flute as her second. Tenor saxophone also became a great love later in life. In 1999, she was one of the ad hoc players for the New Arts Philharmonic’s celebration of Duke Ellington, with American pioneer saxophonist James Houlik as the soloist.
Private Tuition
During her student years, Martjie Carter received private tuition from Carl Jeppe, a well-known South African artist, art lecturer, and longtime board member of the South African Art Association. A foundation and love for good drawing were laid in this time. Mr Jeppe has the following to say about Martjie’s work: “Martjie’s portraits are a sensitive blend of talent, discipline, experience and compassion. She is brilliant.” She further augmented her studies with painting and drawing courses at the University of South Africa.
Portraits
Over the years, Martjie Carter has completed hundreds of portrait commissions for people across South Africa and overseas. People like Prof. Nick Wiehahn (recipient of the State President’s Medal for his contribution to changes in South Africa’s eventual Labour laws) and many others have commissioned her. American musician James Houlik, the world’s foremost classical saxophonist, also requested a pencil drawing of himself. At the request of the public relations department of the previous police Force, Martjie did a portrait of former Minister of Law and Order, Adriaan Vlok. In 1993, Martjie was featured in a coffee table book, “Contemporary Artists of Pretoria”.
The USA Years
In 2000, Martjie Carter relocated to the USA and resided in San Diego, California. During this time, she attended portrait workshops at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York under some of the world’s top portrait artists, including John Howard-Sanden, David Leffel of the Art Students League in New York, and Richard Schmidt. She also studied at Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia under world-renowned Nelson Shanks, who painted people like Pope John Paul II, Diana, Princess of Wales, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Margaret Thatcher and Pavarotti. Studio Incamminati attempts to move modern art in the direction of a progressive realism”. This means the artworks are inspired by classical principles yet incorporate modern ideas.
During this time, Martjie Carter was promoted and worked closely with Timmons Galleries, a unique gallery in the heart of Rancho Santa Fe. There, she built a strong reputation in the challenging field of portraiture. Quoting Leigh Timmons, the gallery’s owner, “Martjie is extremely talented,” Timmons says, “and is gifted in capturing the individual spirits of her subjects on canvass…the results are always incredible.” Ranch and Coast Magazine, Febr 2004.
Since moving to Southern California, Martjie Carter has had tremendous success with large-scale and life-size family portraits, as well as single and sibling portraits. Her loose, impressionistic style complements a wide variety of California interiors.
She has also been commissioned twice to paint Sammy Nestico, who composed and arranged some of the greatest American music of all time. He has done work for Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Columbia, MGM, Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand, Bing Crosby, Quincy Jones, and Liza Minnelli. FAME (Foundation to Advance Music Education) commissioned the first portrait of Sammy, and the “Big Band And Jazz Hall of Fame” commissioned the second, which they presented to Sammy at a 2003 tribute concert of his work. This impressionistic rendering of Sammy conducting the youth group, the Band in Black, now appears on the opening page of his official website.
Return to South Africa
In 2008, Martjie Carter returned to South Africa. In 2009, Tshwane University honoured Mrs Graça Machel, wife of Nelson Mandela, with an Honorary Doctorate and commissioned Martjie to paint her portrait. They presented this to Mrs Machel at the graduation ceremony.
In the same year, the Gary Player Group asked her to execute a portrait of Mr Player for the yearly GPI tournament held at Fancourt, George, on the famous Links Golf Course, home of the 2003 President’s Cup. Mr Player is one of the greatest golfers of all time and has won the Masters, the British Open, the US Open and the PGA Championship. The GPI series takes place in the USA, Europe, Asia, and South Africa and aims to raise funds for children’s charities worldwide.
The painting was sold for R100,000 and was bought by Dr Hasso Plattner, owner of Fancourt. Dr Plattner is co-founder of SAP (Systems, Applications, Products), the world’s leading provider of enterprise software solutions that integrate processes. In 1998, he was also inducted into the German Hall of Fame and ranked by Time Magazine (Europe) among the most important and influential IT personalities.
Martjie Carter has also been commissioned by Browns Jewellers, South Africa’s diamond people, to create several original portraits of their founding members. These are hanging in key shops locally and internationally.
Early in 2016, Martjie Carter was commissioned by the international company TMM Holdings to paint their owner, Mario Jose Andrade Ferreira. In 2012, the President of Portugal honoured Mr Ferreira with the Order of Merit. Later that same year, she was commissioned by Jonathan Ball Publishers, the largest Publishing company in SA, to paint their owner and CEO, Mr Jonathan Ball. Mr Ball also later commissioned Martjie to paint his beautiful late wife, Pam Ball.
Pretoria Boys’ High School, rated one of the best schools in the world, has commissioned Martjie Carter to paint two of its former headmasters, Mr Bill Schroder and Mr Tony Reeler. Jonathan Ball Publishers used the portrait of Mr Schroder as the cover for Mr Schroder’s memoirs. In 2026, Martjie was also commissioned to paint the former headmistress of Pretoria High School for Girls, Mrs Erasmus.
Martjie currently lives in Pretoria, South Africa, where she runs her painting studio. She also taught piano at Roedean, the exclusive private school for girls in Johannesburg.