In the spring of 1950, the sculptor Robert Rosenwald left his small studio at number 8, rue St. Julian le Pauvre, located directly across the street from one of the oldest churches in Paris, and diagonally across the Seine from the towers of Notre Dame, and turned it over to his friend Haywood "Bill" Rivers. Rivers in turn invited a number of his artist friends to join him in turning the studio into a gallery, the only gallery in Paris run by Americans essentially to show the work of U.S. painters, though some others were also shown. The opening of the gallery created considerable excitement and was reported both in the English language press as well as in a number of French papers. Even Pablo Picasso is said to have stopped by to see what was going on. In its slightly more than two years of existence more than 50 painters and sculptors exhibited at Galerie Huit, including Carmen D'Avino, Shinkichi Tajiri, Harold Tovish, Oscar Chelimsky, Sydney Geist, Al Held, Burt Hasan, George Earl Ortman, Raymond Hendler, Robert Rosenwald.