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 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.