First Exhibition (1756)

The First Exhibition took place in London during 1760 (not in 1756 as the title indicates), when the Royal Society of Arts inaugurated its series of Fine Art Exhibitions. Prizes were offered for improvements in the manufacture of tapestry, carpets, and porcelain, and winners were chosen from a competition of submitted articles. The show was open to Society members and their friends. The Society was more concerned with quicker production and more efficient implements than with artistic expression. In the early days of the Society, awards were given to young students for such practical things as planting oak trees of the English navy and dying textiles. It was actually referred to as "Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce" but was later shortened to "The Premium Society.' because they offered cash premiums to encourage inventors and artists in their work. The ten Fellows included Benjamin Franklin, Jonas Hanway, William Hogarth, Thomas Hollis, Samuel Johnson, William Shipley, and Joshua Steel. They met at first at a coffee house in Covent Garden in 1754. The first awards in the Society were given for discovering cobalt, raising and curing madder, and shipping breadfruit. There was an emphasis on improving farming techniques as well.

In 1761 there was a follow up exhibition of agricultural and other machinery sponsored by the British Society of Arts, which offered prizes as well.