Geneva, Illinois, native Martha Salemme was born in 1912.  She received her R. N. in 1934 from Augustania Hospital Nursing School and practiced as a nurse at New York Hospital.  In 1943, she married painter/sculpture Antonio Salemme. She studied painting with her husband and within five years, Martha had her first solo exhibition.

Throughout her career, Salemme exhibited her oil paintings and watercolors in the United States and Europe. She enjoyed solo exhibitions at the Van Diemen-Lilienfeld Gallery, New York, 1948; Sagittarius Gallery, New York, 1963; Gallery Mouffe, Paris, 1974; the Community Center, Hyssna, Sweden, 1975, 1976, and 1980; Grace Ehlers Gallery, Easton, Pennsylvania, 1992; and the Town Hall Gallery, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1995.

Salemme also participated in group exhibitions at the Jersey City Museum, New Jersey; the Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York; Artist Equity Triennial, Philadelphia; and the Centre International d'Art Contemporain.

Numerous private and public collections include Martha Salemme's paintings.  She is also listed in Who's Who in American Art, Women Artists of America, International Who's Who of Women, and the Dictionary of International Biography.