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PAUL KASMIN GALLERY
William N. Copley: Cply X-Rated
Painter, gallerist, writer and collector William N. Copley (1919-1996) was one of Surrealism's most active advocates in America (especially in Los Angeles), and his paintings are increasingly recognized as important precursors to Pop. A close friend to Duchamp and Man Ray, Copley always courted controversy, never more memorably than with his infamous X-Rated exhibition at the New York Cultural Center in 1974. Copley's cartoonish works of the 1950s developed an overtly sexual iconography in the 1960s, which in turn prefigured his erotic and arguably pornographic work of the 1970s. Published on the occasion of Paul Kasmin Gallery's reconstruction of the 1974 show, the book includes 38 superb color plates of the paintings--many of which have not been seen since the original exhibition--as well as Copley's fascinating 1977 memoir of his early years as an exponent and gallerist for Surrealism, "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dealer."
Featured image is Rape of Lucretia (1972), reproduced from William N. Copley: CPLY X-Rated.
"The 'X-Rated' pictures are loosely, even crudely, rendered images of couples and trios engaged in sex, their contorted bodies and attenuated limbs tangled together in bold arrangements of interlocking, almost abstract forms. The subjects’ languid carnality, Buddha-like smiles, and insistent individuality are frankly erotic. The colors—vibrant pastels, rich, off greens, browns, and yellows, midnight blues and brooding purples—are sensational… A Surrealist disjunctiveness is manifested in the names of the paintings, many of which are slyly titled after Hollywood films… Sui generic, CPLY was neither truly a Surrealist nor a Pop artist. He exploited decoration, humor, and sentiment long before artists such as Joe Brainard or Ree Morton; he celebrated the male gaze at the height of the women’s liberation movement, and he pursued the Rococo in the heyday of Minimalism… Always incorrect and gleefully so, CPLY always got it right."
FORMAT: Hbk, 10.75 x 10.75 in. / 140 pgs / 38 color / 8 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $65.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $75 ISBN: 9780982943311 PUBLISHER: Paul Kasmin Gallery AVAILABLE: 4/30/2011 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: WORLD
Painter, gallerist, writer and collector William N. Copley (1919-1996) was one of Surrealism's most active advocates in America (especially in Los Angeles), and his paintings are increasingly recognized as important precursors to Pop. A close friend to Duchamp and Man Ray, Copley always courted controversy, never more memorably than with his infamous X-Rated exhibition at the New York Cultural Center in 1974. Copley's cartoonish works of the 1950s developed an overtly sexual iconography in the 1960s, which in turn prefigured his erotic and arguably pornographic work of the 1970s. Published on the occasion of Paul Kasmin Gallery's reconstruction of the 1974 show, the book includes 38 superb color plates of the paintings--many of which have not been seen since the original exhibition--as well as Copley's fascinating 1977 memoir of his early years as an exponent and gallerist for Surrealism, "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dealer."
