Society of American Artists

Helena de Kay Gilder felt her paintings location reflected the academy's reluctance to accept new types of art.

[2] The group received public support from Clarence Cook, a writer and art critic who wrote for the Daily Tribune, as well as Helena de Kay Gilder's brother, Charles de Kay who was an art columnist and editor of The New York Times.

[2] Some of the first members included sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, whose work had been rejected from a National Academy exhibition in 1877; painters Walter Shirlaw, Robert Swain Gifford, Albert Pinkham Ryder, John La Farge, Julian Alden Weir, John Henry Twachtman, and Alexander Helwig Wyant; and designer and artist Louis Comfort Tiffany.

In 1897, Laura Coombs Hills became the first miniature painter elected to the Society of American Artists (and one of very few women).

[3] Eventually most of the best-known artists of the day joined the group, and many held dual membership with the National Academy.