William N. Copley

"People are shy of humor in painting. They think it has to be a serious matter. It’s the only thing we have between ourselves and pessimism. I see painting as poetry. Humor, after all, is the reminder that we are mortal."
William N. Copley, excerpted from William N. Copley: CPLY X-Rated.

MONOGRAPHS & CATALOGS

William N. Copley: Among Ourselves Edited by Klaus Gerrit Friese. Text by Stephan Berg. The life and career of William N. Copley (1919-1996) spans an exciting (if little-known) period in American art. As a gallerist, Copley established a powerful presence for Surrealism on the West
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HATJE CANTZ
ISBN: 9783775724050
$55.00 | Awaiting stock

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
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PAUL KASMIN
ISBN: 9780982943311
$65.00 | Awaiting stock

William N. Copley: True Confessions, Paintings And Drawings Artwork by William Copley. Edited by Kay Heymer, Brigitte Reinhardt. Copley's importance to the American Dada surrealist movement is for teh first time properly studied in this, the first publication examining his complete work since his recent death in 1996.
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HATJE CANTZ PUBLISHERS
ISBN: 9783775706971
$35.00 | Not available

William N. Copley

Featured image is a photo of William N. Copley by Arnold Newman, reproduced from William N. Copley: CPLY X-Rated.

William N. Copley: Cply X-Rated

Published by Paul Kasmin

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."

William N. Copley: Among Ourselves

Edited by Klaus Gerrit Friese. Text by Stephan Berg.
Published by Hatje Cantz

The life and career of William N. Copley (1919-1996) spans an exciting (if little-known) period in American art. As a gallerist, Copley established a powerful presence for Surrealism on the West Coast, exhibiting René Magritte, Max Ernst, Yves Tanguy, Joseph Cornell and Man Ray, before deciding, in 1947, to become a painter himself. He then moved to Paris, where he developed his own unmistakable style, a style which has come to be recognized as the native link between Surrealism and Pop art. In his emphasis on bold wavy outline and occasional use of text, Copley is now also considered a forerunner of the graffiti art practiced by the likes of Keith Haring. This important monograph reproduces a broad selection of Copley's paintings, inspired by everyday American circumstances: his cowboys and pin-up girls, his erotic and pornographic fantasies and his set pieces from everyday life.

William N. Copley: True Confessions, Paintings And Drawings

Artwork by William Copley. Edited by Kay Heymer, Brigitte Reinhardt.
Published by Hatje Cantz Publishers

Copley's importance to the American Dada surrealist movement is for teh first time properly studied in this, the first publication examining his complete work since his recent death in 1996.