[1][5] Curator Henry Hopkins,[6] who founded the gallery, named it after the French decadent novelist Joris-Karl Huysmans.

[7] The gallery showcased the works of several young artists who later had great success, including Joe Goode, Ed Ruscha, and Larry Bell.

[3] It showed the work of Goode, Bell, Ed Bereal, and Ron Miyashiro, all of whom were born in the late 1930s and experienced World War II in their early childhood.

[5] According to Hopkins, "the exhibition title was selected by Goode to establish a birth point in time and to indicate a sense of post-war internationalism.

[5][8] Liberals and conservatives alike criticized the poster; the John Birch Society denounced the gallery for flag desecration.