According to the rules as laid down by Gill, membership was restricted to professional artists, by invitation, and limited to 12 members.
The first members were Gill and Reynolds, watercolorist W. P. H. Haines, A(lfred) Scott Broad, Edward Davies, M. F. Cavanagh, H. E. Powell, W. K. Gold, E. J.
[2] Two exhibitions were held, and generally well received, but clearly dominated by Gill's prodigious output.
The club folded in 1892 without fanfare, but seemed to coincide with the rebirth of the moribund South Australian Society of Arts and the election to its board of Gill president), Gold (secretary), Powell (treasurer), and a new committee consisted of Broad, Cavanagh, James Keane, Reynolds, and Wadham,[3] Keane alone in not being a member of the Circle.
In December that year the Wadham brothers, Reynolds and Broad broke away from the Society of Arts to help found the Adelaide Easel Club.