[citation needed] For 96 years, it has hosted an annual Grand National Exhibition to promote artists specializing in realist art forms.
The American Artists Professional League was instituted at that meeting, with Williams as president, Wilford Conrow as secretary, and Gordon Grant as treasurer.
[2] Other member artists who have served as officers, board members, or chapter chairs of the AAPL include Dean Cornwell, Lionel Barrymore, Harvey Dunn, Rockwell Kent, Frederic Whitaker, A.C. Pelikan of the Milwaukee Art Institute, and Theodore H. Pond of the Akron Art Institute.
Albert T. Reid had connections amongst legislators in Washington, D.C., and persuaded a California Senator to attach a rider to a congressional bill, stipulating that all official portraits were to be painted by U.S.
Dr. Martin Fischer undertook the investigation, which was completed in 1932 at the University of Cincinnati, establishing the AAPL as the national authority on artists' pigments.
Activities included a war poster competition, British-American goodwill exhibition, sponsoring of portrait drawings, demonstrations of arts and crafts, and instruction in military hospitals.