Biography
(b. 1919 in New York, died 1996 in Key West, FL)
As a painter, writer, gallerist, supporter, and publisher, William N. Copley blazed a singular path through numerous territories of post-war art, along the way charting a vital link between the European Surrealist and the American Pop Art movements.
His work is collected both in private and public collections worldwide. The work of CPLY has been the subject of numerous single artist shows and a traveling retrospective at the Kunsthalle Bern, Centre Georges Pompidou, and the Stedelijk Van Abbesmuseum, and has been exhibited in several important group exhibitions, including documenta 5 and documenta 7.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012 Museum Frieder Burda, Baden Baden
2011 “X-Rated,” Sadie Coles HQ, London
2010 “CPLY: X-Rated,” Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York
2004 Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva
1980-1981 Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany
Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (traveling
retrospective)
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Kunsthalle Bern
1979 “CPLY: Reflections on a Past Life,” Institute for the Arts,
Rice University, Houston
1974 “CPLY/X-RATED,” New York Cultural Center, New York
