[2] 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.
[4] The scholar, Benjamin has argued that the Society's advent changed the consciousness of French Orientalist painters and sculptors by giving them a sense of "belonging to a communal movement.
These exhibitions were accompanied by substantial dinners featuring exotic dishes, carefully planned decor and souvenir menus designed by a notable Orientalist artist.
[5] During the society's active period in the late 19th-century and early 20th-century, it was seen as providing tacit support for colonial rule in North Africa and the Middle East.
The group established an artists' salon in Morocco and also mounted displays for French colonial exhibitions.