Born in Philadelphia, Martha Walter was a well-known Philadelphia Impressionist who specialized in light hearted, colorful beach scenes, especially of Gloucester, Coney Island, Atlantic City and along the French Coast.
She studied at the Pennsylvania Academy with William Merritt Chase. On a two-year traveling Cresson Scholarship, she visited France, Spain, Italy and Holland and attended the Academie Grande Chaumiere and the Academie Julian (1903) in Paris. Finding the academy structure too confining, she established a studio in the Rue De Bagneaus.
Her painting captured the animation of the city and the light and color of seashore scenes. With World War I, she returned to the United States and set up a studio in Gloucester, Massachusetts, painting beach scenes. She also became intrigued with Ellis Island and painted people as they arrived in ethnic costume from other countries.
Walter exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1909 (prize), 1923 (gold), and National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, 1915 (prize).
This biography is taken from the Archives of AskART.
Museums:
Terra Museum of American Art
The Art Institute of Chicago
The Terra Museum, Giverny
Smith College Museum of Art
The Detroit Institute of Arts
The Columbus Museum of Art
The Toledo Museum of Art
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Luxembourg Museum, Paris
Musee d'Orsay, Paris
