Galerie St. Etienne Presents an Exhibition to Benefit The Coalition for the Homeless

Galerie St. Etienne is pleased to announce an online group exhibition of works by Sue Coe, Oskar Kokoschka, Käthe Kollwitz, Alfred Kubin and Egon Schiele. All profits from the sale will be donated to The Coalition for the Homeless, to support their ongoing efforts in protecting the homeless population during the COVID-19 outbreak. The exhibition will be presented on Artsy from June 1 to June 30, 2020.

Featuring some of the gallery’s mainstay artists–celebrated masters of German and Austrian Expressionism, as well as the gallery’s sole living contemporary artist, Sue Coe–these works were selected because of their humanistic content. “As we consider the varied impact of COVID-19 on those who have been privileged to shelter in relative comfort, and those who have not, these works remind us of the common humanity we all share,” says Director Jane Kallir on describing the importance of supporting the Coalition and including these artists in Galerie St. Etienne’s benefit sale.

Citing the importance of supporting the most at-risk populations during times of crisis, the Coalition’s Executive Director Dave Giffen says, “The Coalition is so grateful to Galerie St. Etienne for so generously supporting us during this critical time. Our homeless neighbors are so vulnerable right now, and the support raised through these efforts will absolutely save lives.”

Highlights include Egon Schiele’s Squatting Woman, created during a brief exploration of printmaking that resulted in only 17 known graphic works. During the spring and summer of 1914, the artist produced a total oeuvre of six drypoints. Printed from Schiele’s original plate, this impression of Squatting Woman comes from an edition of 100 specially pulled at Robert Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop, New York to accompany the deluxe edition of the catalogue raisonné Egon Schiele: The Complete Works (Abrams, 1990). All impressions are initialed, dated and numbered by Schiele expert Jane Kallir on the verso.

While Käthe Kollwitz is best known for documenting social injustice, Mother Holding Child in Her Arms expresses her softer side, capturing the profound joy of motherhood. One of only thirty of Kollwitz’s etching plates that survived the mass destruction of World War II, this impression was pulled by Kollwitz’s publisher, Alexander von der Becke. His efforts made it possible for a new generation of collectors to acquire Kollwitz originals at affordable prices and helped solidify the artist’s place as a master of the graphic arts.

A response to the weeks-long bombing of thousands of civilians during the Gulf War, Coe’s Bomb Shelter (1991) is marked by the influence of Expressionist artists such as Kollwitz. Bomb Shelter was recently included in MoMA PS1’s “Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991-2011.” In his review of the exhibition, The New Yorker’s Peter Schjeldahl praises Coe for capturing the “lifelong sorrow and anger at human barbarities.” Coe will have a retrospective exhibition at Galerie St. Etienne in the autumn of 2020, the gallery’s final show before transitioning to a non-profit.