 The Society's first exhibit was in 1891, held at the Woodward & Lothrop building.Within a few years the Society had its own gallery space at 1020 Connecticut Avenue.In that space the Society exhibited loaned art work held in private collections in Washington, D.C. By 1900 the Society's annual exhibits included out-of-town artists and were the forerunners of the Corcoran Gallery's "Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Art".