 The group established an Artists' Salon and also mounted displays for French colonial exhibitions.Founding members were largely from the Algerian group and included Maurice Bompard, Eugène Girardet, Alphonse-Étienne Dinet, Paul Leroy and the art historian and Director of the Musée du Luxembourg, Léonce Bénédite was President from the Society's inception until his death in 1925.Artists, Jean-Léon Gérôme and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant were also named honorary presidents.