35

Martha Walter

(American, 1875-1976)

"Fish Market, Brittany"

oil on canvas board
signed lower right, titled and inscribed en verso.
Framed.
16" x 20", framed 24" x 28"

  • Provenance: Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Texas, May 11, 2005, lot 23504; Frances Aronson Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia.
  • Exhibited: Impressionist Jewels. The Paintings of Martha Walter, A Retrospective. Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 22-November 17, 2002. (ill. in catalogue, p. 52, pl. 130).

    Notes: Employing a palette of rich, saturated colors, including an adept application of deep grey and black tones unusual for an Impressionist artist, Martha Walter emphasized shapes and the interplay of light and shadow rather than relying on the purely figurative. Her Brittany scenes, such as the one offered here, reveal her mastery of plein air painting with their boldly applied brushstrokes and figures reduced to their most basic yet easily identifiable forms.

    Walter's academic art training incorporated the best that America and France had to offer. She studied under William Merritt Chase at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where she won numerous awards including the prestigious Toppan prize and was the first recipient of the Cresson award (quite an accomplishment for a woman at the time), which was a two-year travel scholarship that afforded her the opportunity to travel to Europe. She spent some time in France where she attended the Academie Julien and was inspired by the great plein air painter Eugen Boudin (1824-1898).

    Upon her return to the United States, Walter settled in the art colony of Gloucester, Massachusetts. She exhibited widely throughout her life, including the National Academy of Design, the Corcoran Gallery Biennials, Paris Salon, and the Salon d'Automne.
  • Condition: **In overall very good condition with no repairs or notable inpainting. The lower right corner (below the signature) lightly fluoresces under UV light, indicative of an inpainted touch-up, though none was detected under white light.

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