The Galerie St. Etienne was founded in New York City in 1939 by Austrian-born art dealer and scholar Otto Kallir. The gallery quickly established a reputation for exhibiting Austrian and German Expressionist art, including works by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka, as well as artists from the Wiener Werkstätte. Kallir also played a critical role in introducing American audiences to the works of artists who were persecuted or displaced by the Nazi regime, such as Käthe Kollwitz and Marc Chagall. Today, the Galerie St. Etienne remains a leading gallery in the United States for Austrian and German Expressionist art.