They included Selden Connor Gile, August Gay, Maurice Logan, Louis Siegriest, Bernard von Eichman, and William H.
[1] They were somewhat isolated from the artistic mainstream of the San Francisco Bay Area at the time, and painted in more avant-garde styles than most of their peers, especially after being inspired by modern trends represented in the Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915.
William Henry Clapp (1879-1954) was the last to join the group and had the most cosmopolitan background, including art training in Montreal and Paris and a six-month stay in New York City.
Having lived in Oakland in his youth, he returned in 1917, settled in Piedmont, and began teaching life drawing at the California School of Arts and Crafts.
Nancy Boas, author of The Society of Six: California Colorists, called Gile "the forceful center of the Six--teacher, provider, and provocative critic.