The story
Founded in 1876 by a group of like-minded men led by William Longman of the publishing family, Marcus Bourne Huish (1843–1904), lawyer, editor, writer and collector, who became the first managing director while at the same time editing The Art Journal; and Archibald Stuart-Wortley MP. The gallery, first managed by Ernest Brown (later founder of Leicester Galleries) has for many years largely concentrated on British art and design from 1600 to the present day; with the Edinburgh premises specialising in Scottish art of the same period. The Edinburgh branch of the company is directed by Emily Walsh. The chairmen were all drawn from the Longman family until the death of Mark Longman in 1972. Since then only Lord Macfarlane of Bearsden KT (until 1998), Sir Angus Grossart (until 2016) and Robin Holland-Martin (current) have held the position. Only seven people have held the position of managing director in the past 139 years, the last being Pippa Stockdale.
The Fine Art Society has taken part in key international art fairs over the years, most notably at TEFAF Maastricht, Masterpiece, London, Frieze Masters, London and at the London Original Print Fair, whose founder and chairman, Gordon Cooke, is also the society's 19th and 20th century prints specialist. The society has also exhibited in art fairs in New York, Miami, Hong Kong, Paris and Dubai.
From Wikipedia’s article on Fine Art Society, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3