NICOLAAS MARITZ GALLERY
Welcome.
I make art, using paint and other materials with bright colours. I create flat, three dimensional, or abstract images, depicting subjects from my environment or imagination. I do what comes naturally, and sell what is possible.
I also produce digital imagery, illustrations, and works using sound. The digital colours and sounds are clear, modern and bright. Selected digital images are sometimes printed out as 'real' art prints.
News about exhibitions and illustrated book projects appear on this page.
CAPE TOWN KITTY CAT
A mischievous and irreverent look at the feline residents of Cape Town suburbs. Enter the secret world of local cats as they navigate this tricky city! With witty verses and fabulous illustrations by award winning artist Nicolaas Maritz.
Available from Clarke's Bookshop, Cape Town, and directly or online from the publisher, New Africa Books, in Cape Town. Also from AMAZON.COM.
SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL/2023
Recent exhibition at the Maritz Museum in Darling, South Africa.
Viewing at the MARITZ MUSEUM throughout the year
is by prior appointment only.
Please call 00 27 +22 78 419 7093
INVITATION TO THE DANCE/2021
An online exhibition of new abstract 'line dance' paintings
and West Coast seascapes.
TO THE SUBFUSC/2020
An online catalogue of the exhibition, with links to three online exhibition add-ons.
DAPPLED VIEWS /2020
An exhibition of recent landscape paintings
at the Dawid Ras Gallery, Sandton, Johannesburg.
7 - 27 March 2020 / extended until end June 2020.
CURRENT CHILDREN'S & OTHER ILLUSTRATED BOOKS
M U L T I L I N G U A L 1 2 3
All forms of counting, in any language, start with the basic units: 1, 2, 3…
The artwork in this multilingual counting book features southern African wildlife, and numbers from 1 to 10 and then back again from 10 to 1. Each number is handily translated into more than 20 southern African languages. “After all, without numeracy, how could we ever count our blessings?” – Nicolaas Maritz
Includes over 20 languages - : Afrikaans; Al-ʿArabiyyah اَلعَْرَبِيةَُّ ; Deutsch; Français; Khoekhoegowab; Naro; IsiNdebele; Nǀo̰akhoe Kx’ui; Nǀuuki; Português; S.A Sign language; Sepedi; Sesotho; Setswana; ChiShona; KiSwahili; SiSwati; Tshivenḓa; OshiWambo; iXhosa Xitsonga; isiZulu; !Orakobab; ǃXóɲa ǂÂá
Published by David Philip Publishers, ( Trading as New Africa Books), Cape Town 2022.. Illustrator and designer: Nicolaas Maritz. Language: Multilingual, Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4856-3106-4, July 2022, 300 x 240 , 36 pages. Available in paperback from all good bookshops in South Africa. Online from New Africa Books. Also from AMAZON.COM.
R A I N B E A S T
A multilingual Southern African rain mythology, revealing the rapture of man and beast when rain arrives after a prolonged drought in the Riemvasmaak area of the Northern Cape Province. Author and illustrator Nicolaas Maritz describes this book as a grown-up book for children, and a children's book for adults. The four-language text features English - IsiXhosa - Hai//om ( a sister language of the Khoekhoegowab languages, Nama and Damara) and original verse text in Afrikaans.
Published by David Philip Publishers, ( Trading as New Africa Books), Cape Town 2021. ISBN: 978-1-4856-3027-2. Available in paperback from all good bookshops in South Africa. Online from New Africa Books and Amazon.com.
Winner of a 2021 Silver Pendoring Award for illustration, and a White Raven Award, 2022.
HOW MANY FROGS CAN YOU SEE?
A colourful counting book of Southern African frogs and toads. Written and illustrated by Nicolaas Maritz, with a foreword by Jeanne Tarrant, Endangered Wildlife Trust.
Published by David Philip Publishers (New Africa Books), Cape Town, 2020. Available in hardcover or paperback from all good bookshops in South Africa, or online from www.newafricabooks.com and Amazon.com
SOUTH AFRICAN ANIMAL PORTRAITS A-Z
Meet the mammals, reptiles, insects and birds who populate the veld, desert, forests and ponds of Southern Africa. From the ant-eating aardvark to the zebra snake (spitting cobra), there is a new friend on every page. This children's ABC book is packed with vivid and charming illustrations and includes the scientific name of each animal.
As author and illustrator Nicolaas Maritz writes in his foreword to the book: ‘Although an attractive landscape anywhere in the world may at first look quiet and empty, if you sit very still you will soon notice a few companionable insects crawling around in your immediate vicinity. Next, you will most likely become aware of a variety of bird calls, near and far. If you are lucky, a small animal, like a meercat or a mongoose might show itself. In a game reserve you may be fortunate enough to encounter the so-called “Big Five”- elephant, rhino, leopard, Cape buffalo and lion. These are only some of the many beautiful wild creatures that animate the wonderfully diverse Southern African landscape.
The artist has received international recognition for graphic design, and for illustrations of children’s and other books, notably two American illustration awards: the NCSS CBC Notable 1992 Children's Trade Book award in the field of Social Studies, USA for SOMEWHERE IN AFRICA (I. Mennen & N. Daly), Duttons, New York, and in 1994, the Parents' Choice Illustration Honor, USA, for ONE SUN RISES, (W. Hartmann ), Duttons, New York. In 2019 he received the IBBY SA Award for Best Illustrations for South African Animal Portraits A-Z, published by David Philip, Cape Town.
Published by David Philip Publishers (New Africa Books), Cape Town, 2019
ISBN 978-1-4856-2960-3 (softcover), 978-1-4856-2799-9 (hardback) 2019, 245x300mm, 64pp.
Available in hardcover or paperback from all good bookshops in South Africa, or online from www.newafricabooks.com and Amazon.com
M U L T I L I N G U A L A B C
Like many other places in the world, Southern Africa is becoming increasingly polyglot. If there is the notion of a rainbow nation, then the current diversity of languages resembles multi-coloured confetti thrown in the air at a wedding. But not being able to speak other languages is what keeps people apart (and who wants that?). After all, so much of what we understand and communicate is said. This book is an introduction to some of the animals and more than 20 languages of the southern African region.
- This book won a silver PENDORING AWARD 2020 in the category - Design: whole publication. Also a 2022 BOLOGNA RAGAZZI AWARD for non-fiction.
Illustrator and designer: Nicolaas Maritz
Language: Multilingual
Publisher: David Philip Publishers (New Africa Books) Cape Town. Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook. ISBN: 978 1 4856 2977 1, July 2020, 240x290, 36 pages. Available from all good bookshops in South Africa, or online from www.newafricabooks.com or Takealot. Also from AMAZON.COM.