Aka NEAC. Founded in London in 1886 as an exhibiting society by artists influenced by Impressionism and whose work was rejected by the conservative Royal Academy. Key early members were James Abbot McNeil WHISTLER (although he soon resigned) Walter Richard SICKERT and Philip Wilson STEER. Others in the first show included George CLAUSEN, Stanhope FORBES and Louis Augustus SARGENT. Initially avant-garde the NEAC quickly became increasingly conservative and Sickert and Steer formed an 'Impressionist nucleus' within it, staging their own show London Impressionists in 1889. NEAC remained important as showcase for advanced art until 1911 when challenged by the Camden Town Group and London Group, and continued to be influential into the 1920s with artists such as Augustus Edwin JOHN and Stanley SPENCER exhibiting. It still exists, now preserving the Impressionist tradition.