The first comprehensive book about the Washington, D.C., art world, this study features humorous and unique stories about the artists and art districts of one of the U.S.'s most visited cities. The city's many firsts include are the first modern art museum, the first African-American gallery, and the first art fair. Important in the feminist art movement, it hosted the opening of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Chapters are arranged by decade beginning with 1900, and highlight trends in portraits and landscapes, galleries and museums, nonprofits, cooperatives, art fairs, family stories and the Artomatic experience.