and the other Salonul Independenților initiators joined up with author Ioan Bacalbașa and architect Ștefan Ciocâlteu. This diverse group established Societatea Ileana, an association dedicated to supporting innovative artists. Its steering committee was later joined by the intellectual and political figures Constantin Rădulescu-Motru, Nicolae Xenopol, and Nicolae Filipescu, as well as by the painter Jean Alexandru Steriadi. The society took up the effort to uproot against academic salons, organizing a large and provocative exhibit in 1898, and, at the height of its popularity, enlisted in its ranks some 300 people. Despite such consolidation, various Ileana affiliates were not entirely committed to the cause, and never severed their links with Stănescu's official section. The new circle held meetings in a Brezoianu Street studio which was also its patron's home. Its feminine name Ileana was probably a borrowing from Romanian folklore, and may reference the fairy tale character Ileana Cosânzeana. The group's press organ, also known as Ileana, was edited by Bacalbașa and illustrated by Luchian. Described by Vianu as a "refined art magazine", it is also considered the first one of its kind in Romania. In parallel, Bogdan-Pitești began frequenting the country's first socialist pressure group, the Romanian Social Democratic Workers' Party (PSDMR), and attending meetings between Bucharest workers. The PSDMR denounced him as an agent provocateur of the Conservative Party, and he stood accused of breaking the party into tolerant and antisemitic halves. Péladan's visit As head of Ileana, Bogdan-Pitești organized Joséphin Péladan's 1898 visit to Bucharest. It was a much-publicized event, which attracted the attention of high society and received ample coverage in the press; Bogdan-Pitești accompanied Péladan on visits to various Bucharest landmarks, including the Athenaeum, the Chamber of Deputies, the Orthodox Metropolitan and Domnița Bălașa churches, as well as the Roman Catholic Saint Joseph Cathedral. Among the politicians who attended the ceremonies were Nicolae Filipescu, Constantin Dissescu, Take Ionescu, Ioan Lahovary, and Constantin C. Arion; prominent intellectuals (Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea, Rădulescu-Motru etc.) were in the audience. Péladan agreed to lecture in front of Societatea Ileana at the Atheneum, and his subject of choice was The Genius of the Latin Race. His mystical doctrine was received with much skepticism and amusement by the Romanian literary chroniclers. The visit then turned to scandal: Péladan issued a call for all Romanians to embrace Catholicism, and left the country on pain of being deported. Various commentators are entirely dismissive of the