Tangier by Martha Walter (1875-1976), watercolor on paper, 17 1/2″ x 17 1/2″, signed lower left.
Medium: Watercolor on paper
We follow in the footsteps of the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia in our attempt to articulate Martha Walter’s under-appreciated artistic brilliance. They successfully accomplish this in their exhibition and associated publication Impressionist Jewels: The Paintings of Martha Walter, the collection from which our oil painting originates.
Born in Philadelphia in 1875, Martha Walter grew up in the Pennsylvania art community, having trained first at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Arts and then the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. At the latter, Walter was mentored by William Merritt Chase, becoming a favorite pupil of his and consequently the Academy’s. In 1908, Walter was awarded the school’s Cresson Traveling Scholarship and was able to fulfill the traditional Impressionist pilgrimage to Italy and France. Upon her return to America, Walter settled in New England and found regional success, most often portraying beach scenes with bright colors reminiscent of her European travels (as shown in the pieces Gondolas, Venice, Valencia, Tangier, and Moroccan Procession in the collection).
Despite her accolade-studded career, Walter was often absent from the discussion of contemporaries with more media savvy, like that of Robert Henri and Arthur B. Davies, or the few female darlings of journalists at the time, like Mary Cassatt and Cecilia Beaux.
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