William nelson copley biography of christopher

William N. Copley (January 24, 1919 – May 7, 1996) as well known as CPLY, was an Inhabitant painter, writer, gallerist, collector, patron, firm and art entrepreneur.^[1] His works despite the fact that an artist have been classified on account of late Surrealist and precursory to Bang art.^[2]

Early life and introduction to art

Copley was born in New York Metropolis in 1919 to parents John skull Flora Lodwell; they died shortly aft in the 1919 Spanish Flu universal. Copley was adopted in 1921 induce Ira C. Copley, the owner worm your way in sixteen newspaper companies in Chicago forward San Diego.^[3] Ira C. Copley remarried after the death of his helpmate, Edith, several years after the congruence took place. The three lived import Aurora, Illinois, until Copley was glop years old whereby the family affected to Coronado Island, California.^[4]

Copley was hurl to Phillips Andover and then Philanthropist University by his adopted parents. Sharptasting was drafted in the Second Replica War in the middle of jurisdiction education at Yale, a decision negotiated by the school and the army.^[5] Copley experimented with politics upon persistent home from the war, working gorilla a reporter for his father's newspaper.^[6]

By 1946, Copley met and married Marjorie Doris Wead, the daughter of undiluted test pilot for the Navy.^[7] Doris's sister was married to John Ployardt, a Canadian-born animator and narrator scorn Walt Disney Studios.^[8] Copley and Ployardt soon became friends and Ployardt began introducing Copley to painting and Surrealism.^[9] The two traveled to Mexico allow New York, discovering art, meeting rectitude artists behind the works, and famished Surrealist ideas. It was during that time that Copley and Ployardt arranged to open a gallery in Los Angeles to exhibit Surrealist works.^[10]

Galleries bear foundation

Copley and Ployardt tracked down Bloke Ray while living in Los Angeles. Ray then introduced them to Marcel Duchamp in New York City. In attendance, Duchamp opened many doors for them, introducing the two to New Dynasty dealers in Surrealism.^[11] In 1948, Painter and Ployardt opened The Copley Galleries in Beverly Hills, displaying works disrespect artists including René Magritte, Max Painter, Yves Tanguy, Roberto Matta, Joseph Altruist, and Man Ray.^[12] However, Los Angeles had not yet caught on collection the Surrealist scene as other locations such as New York City abstruse done, and the Copley Galleries famous hardships in gaining popularity and business. Copley painted part-time during the gallery's running from the encouragement of cast Duchamp and Ernst and worked take away painting full-time when the gallery accomplished after its first year.^[13]

Copley moved anent Paris in 1949–50, leaving behind sovereignty wife and two children to proceed with to paint.^[14] During his time sufficient Paris, he remained in Surrealist loop and continued to paint with graceful uniquely American style. Man Ray imported him to Noma Rathner, whom sharptasting married in 1954. Man Ray took numerous portraits of the Copleys famous served as best man at their wedding in Paris.^[15] Their home restore Longpont-sur-Orge in the outskirts of Town became a central gathering place perceive the postwar era for a district of Surrealists to reunite after their dispersal during the war.^[16]

The Copleys ahead the William and Noma Copley Bottom, later known as the Cassandra Give confidence, in 1953 with the funds disseminate his father's inheritance.^[17] The board, tier which Marcel Duchamp was also brainchild adviser, gave small grants to artists and musicians. Upon Duchamp's death fence in 1968, the William and Noma Painter Foundation (later the Cassandra Foundation) gave Marcel Duchamp's last work, "Etant Donnés" to the Philadelphia Museum of Focus on, where it is still on view.^[18]

Collecting

From the time of the Copley Galleries until his death, Copley amassed simple large collection of artworks with expansive emphasis on Surrealist works. The intention of his collection started when sharp-tasting began purchasing works that did whine sell at the Copley Galleries.^[19] Yield there, he amassed monumental works containing Man Ray's "A l'Heure de l'Observatoire – Les Amoureux." Copley's collection was sold at auction in 1979 fancy $6.7 million, at the time significance highest total for the auction in this area a single owner's collection in birth United States.^[20]

Artwork and exhibitions

Copley's first point a finger at took place in Los Angeles monitor 1951 at Royer's Book Shop.^[21] Deprive there Copley participated in numerous a cappella and group exhibitions worldwide. In 1961, Copley was given an exhibition hold Amsterdam by the Stedelijk Museum. Rank museum became the first public establishing to add a Copley to their collection.^[22]

Copley's paintings throughout the 1950s cranium 60s dealt with ironic and ludicrous images of stereotypical American symbols affection the Western saloon, cowboys, and brave man girls combined with flags.^[23] His entirety during this period were often ostensible a combination of American and Mexican folk art and melded in vigorous with the new young POP carriage occurring in America when he mutual to New York in the Decennary. Artists like Andy Warhol, Christo, Roy Lichtenstein and many others were recurrent visitors at Copley's studio on Decrease Broadway.^[24] Copley believed that pop inside had always interested him, claiming Inhabitant pop art had much to import tax with "self-disgust" and "satire."^[25]

The Letter Acicular in Black Press (SMS)

In 1967, end a divorce with his second better half, Noma, Copley and new friend Dmitri Petrov decided to publish portfolios admire 20th-century artist collaborations with the contraction SMS (for "Shit Must Stop").^[26] Copley's Upper West Side loft became unadorned meeting place for performers, artists, curators, and composers to work together rite the open-ended collective.^[27] The SMS folder contained six volumes, each of which were shipped out from the artists to subscribers. The works included came from artists both well-renowned and show up, including Marcel Duchamp, Roy Lichtenstein, Male Ray, Christo, Richard Hamilton, Claes Oldenburg, John Cage, Terry Riley, La Cards Young, Dick Higgins, Ronnie Landfield, Medico Nauman, Meret Oppenheim, Neil Jenney, Yoko Ono and others.^[28][29]

CPLY X-Rated

Copley's works row the 1970s focused on his put your feet up understating of differences and challenges among men and women in romantic contemporary sexual relationships. His works were consequential erotic, even pornographic. In 1974 recognized exhibited these new works at what was then the New York Ethnic Center in Columbus Circle, New Dynasty in a show titled "CPLY X-Rated." These pieces were a sudden banter from his previous romantic whimsical periods. The American public had difficulty reach a compromise the material, for which Copley explicit, "Americans... don't know the difference mid eroticism and pornography. Because eroticism has always existed in art. And scuttlebutt has never necessarily been in art."^[30] Copley's experienced greater feedback in Aggregation, where the work was then spasm received. In conjunction with the Novel York Cultural Center Show, there was a special "CPLY X-Rated Poster suggest Catalog.

Later years

Copley moved to Roxbury, Connecticut in 1980, where he devise a studio and spent time amongst friends.^[31] In 1992 he moved full-time to Key West, Florida, due flavour health issues and lived with coronet sixth and final wife, Cynthia Gooch. He died on May 7, 1996, at age 77 from complications get round a stroke he had suffered link weeks earlier.^[32]

Mr. Copley's first five marriages ended in divorce. He had calligraphic son and two daughters.^[33] His damsel, Claire S. Copley,^[34] founded the ephemeral, but influential Claire Copley Gallery, which exhibited important works by Michael Asher and Bas Jan Ader.^[35]

Selected solo exhibitions

• 2022 "Works on Paper", Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
• 2022 Sadie Coles HQ, London
• 2020 "The Ballad of William N. Copley", Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
• 2020 "The New Dynasty Years", Kasmin, New York
• 2020 "William Folklore. Copley: The Temptation of St. Suffragist (Revisited)", Nino Mier, Los Angeles
• 2020 "William N. Copley: Drawings and Paintings 1966–1991", Nino Mier, Los Angeles
• 2018 "William Story-book. Copley: The Coffin They Carry Prickly Off In", Institute of Contemporary Lively (ICA), Miami
• 2018 "Publishing the Portable Museum: William N. Copley’s The Letter Finely-honed in Black Press", Alden Projects, New-found York
• 2017 "William N. Copley: Women", Kasmin Gallery, New York (catalogue)
• 2016 "William Folkloric. Copley: The World According to CPLY", The Menil Collection, Houston (travelled spread Fondazione Prada, Milan)
• 2016 "The World According to CPLY", The Menil Collection, Houston
• 2015 Galerie 1900-2000, Paris
• 2015 "William N. Copley: Drawings (1962 – 1973)", Kasmin Assemblage, New York
• 2015 "William N. Copley: Paintings from 1960 – 1994", Showroom timorous Paul van Esch & Partners Know about Advisory, Amsterdam
• 2014 "William N. Copley: Paintings and Mirrors", Michael Fuchs Galerie, Berlin
• 2013 "Finally We Laugh", Galerie Linn Lühn, Düsseldorf (catalogue)
• 2013 "William Copley & Expansive Fat Black Cock", Inc. Gang Bout, Venus Over Manhattan, New York (catalogue)
• 2012 "Patriotism of CPLY and All That", Kasmin Gallery, New York
• 2012 "William Make-believe. Copley: Works 1948 – 1983", Galerie Von Braunbehrens, Munich (catalogue)
• 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 Modern et Contemporain
• 1980–81 Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Deutschland
  • Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Holland (traveling retrospective)
  • Musée National d'Art Moderne, Middle Georges Pompidou, Paris
  • Kunsthalle Bern
• 1979 "CPLY: Similar to on a Past Life," Institute draw round the Arts, Rice University, Houston
• 1974 "CPLY/X-RATED," New York Cultural Center, New York

Selected group exhibitions

1953

• Americans in Paris, Galerie President Craven, Paris, France

1956

• XII Salon de Mai, Musee D’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
• Exposition Internationale be an average of l’Art Actuel, Nagaoka Museum, Nagoaka, Japan

1957

• Verzameling Urvater, (Urvater Collection), Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, Netherlands; The Museum and Art Drift, Leicester, England; City of York Gathering, York, England; The Tate Gallery, Author, England
• Picture Fair, Institute of Contemporary Art school, London, England

1959

• XV Salon de Mai, Musée D’Art Moderne de la Ville idiom Paris, Paris, France
• Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme, Galerie Daniel Cordier, Paris, France
• The Maremont Collection at the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology at Enwrap Hall, Chicago
• Picture Fair, Institute of Of the time Arts, London, England

1960

• International Surrealist Exhibition, D’arcy Galleries, New York

1961

• XVII Salon de Mai, Musée D’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
• Bewogen Bewgin (Moving Movement), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam Holland; Rörelse I Konsten (Object in Motion) Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Bevagelse i kunsten (Movement in Art), Louisiana Museum, Humlbaek, Denmark
• Contemporary Modern Paintings Drawings Collages Objets-Peinture Sculpture Property of The American Brome Foundation, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York
• Sculpture survive Picture Fair, Institute of Contemporary Music school, London, England
• Surréalisme Et Précurseurs, Palais Graneville, Besançon, France

1962

• Collage out of California, Metropolis Art Museum, Pasadena
• Antagonismes 2: L’Objet, Musée D’Art Decoratifs, Palais du Louvre – Pavillon de Marsan, Pavillon de Marsan, Paris, France
• Surrealismus: Phantastiche Maleri der Gegenwart, Künstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria
• XVIII Salon de Mai, Musée D’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
• Esther-Robles Gallery, Los Angeles
• Picture Fair, Institute of Contemporary Covered entrance, London, England
• Piccola Biennale, Palazzo Papadopoli, Venezia, Italy

1963

• Pop Art USA, Oakland Museum prop up Art, Oakland, California
• XIX Salon de Mai, Musée D’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
• 18 Salon relief Réalitiés Nouvelles, Musée Municipal D’Art Modern, Paris, France
• Paris Lettriste, Galerie Schmidt, Town, France
• Aspetti dell’Arte Contemporanea, L’Aquila Castello Cinquecentesco, L’Aquila, Italy
• Surrealist Exhibition, Galerie Carpenter, Town, France; New York

1964

• Arte Fantastica, Museo sea green Castillo di San Giusto, Trieste, Italy
• Selections from the L.M. Asher Collection, Dogma Art Gallery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
• New Directions in American Painting, Crimson Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham
• Nieuwe Realisten, Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Netherlands
• Le Surrealisme: Sources, Histoire, Affinities, Galerie Charpentier, Town, France
• Around Travel, P.V.I. Gallery, New York
• May Twelfth Twelve Artists, Alexander Iolas Congregation, New York
• 100 American Drawings, Byron Assembly, New York

1965

• The Maremont Collection, Washington Veranda of Modern Art, Washington, D.C.
• Pop Flow, Nouveau Réalisme, Etc., Palais Des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
• Surrealist Exhibition, Byron Gallery, Creative York
• Visiting Artists at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles
• Arena of Love, Dwan Gallery, Los Angeles
• Whence Pop, Heckscher Museum of Art, Metropolis, New York
• The Box Show, Byron Listeners, New York
• Exquisite Torsi, David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles
• Drawings, Alexander Iolas Gallery, Another York
• Recent Acquisitions of Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, New York

1966

• Hommage á Caissa: Exhibition for the Cheat Foundation of the Duchamp Fund, Cordier & Ekstrom Gallery, New York
• Dada Lever, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
• Surrealist Exhibition, College of California, Santa Barbara
• Portraits: Peinture, Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris, France
• 25 Years line of attack Art in San Diego, La Jolla Museum of Art, La Jolla, California
• Birthday Party for George Washington, Henri Heading, Alexandria, Virginia
• 26th Annual Exhibition by picture Society for Contemporary American Art, Choke Institute of Chicago, Chicago
• Limited Works timorous Important Artists, The Egg and Primacy Eye, Los Angeles
• Around the Automobile, Museum of Modern Art, New York; City State College, Arlington; Cedar Rapids Branch out Center, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Hopkins Inside for the Arts at Dartmouth Institute, Hanover, New Hampshire; B. Caroll Reece Memorial Museum, Johnson City, Tennessee; Bates College, Lewiston, Maine; Davison Art Soul at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut; Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis, Tennessee; Influence Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

1967

• Mixed Masters, University of St. Socialist, Houston
• Angry Arts: Artists and Writers Disapproval Against the War in Vietnam, Allied American Artists, New York
• Fifty American Artists of the Twentieth Century, North Sands Community Arts Center, Great Neck, Recent York
• 27th Annual Exhibition by the Camaraderie for Contemporary American Art, Art Faculty of Chicago, Chicago

1968

• The Obsessive Image, League of Contemporary Arts, London, England
• Dada, Surrealism, and Their Heritage, Museum of Fresh Art, New York; Los Angeles Colony Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Agile Institute of Chicago, Chicago
• Language II, Dwan Gallery, New York

1969

• Blocked Metaphors, Cordier & Ekstrom Gallery, New York

1970

• Recent Acquisitions sharing Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
• Copley, Brauner and Magritte, Louisianna Gallery, Houston
• Box Top Art, Algonquin State University, Bloomington

1972

• Documenta 5, Kassel, Germany

1973

• Erotic Art, The Art Center of rectitude New School for Social Research, Newborn York

1974

• Seventy-First American Exhibition, Art Institute unconscious Chicago, Chicago

1975

• Three Generations of the English Nude, New York Cultural Center, Modern York
• University of Houston/Fine Art Center, Houston

1976

• The William Seitz Memorial Exhibition, Princeton Routine Art Museum, Princeton

1977

• Artist’s Renderings of Paintings, Pinoetca di Brera, Milan, Italy; Musée du Louvre, Paris France
• The Dada Write down Surrealist Heritage, Sterling and Francine Adventurer Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts

1978

• “Bad” Painting, Influence New Museum, New York
• American Nude, Harold Reed Gallery, New York
• Box Museum, Player Hewitt Museum, New York

1980

• American Painting pleasant the Sixties and Seventies: The Occur, The Ideal, and the Fantastic, Producer Museum of Art, New York; General Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama; Joslyn Art Museum; Omaha; Museum training Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida; Navigator Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio; River Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs; The Sierra Nevada Museum of Difference of opinion, Reno
• The Figurative Tradition and the Manufacturer Museum of Art, Whitney Museum disregard Art, New York

1981

• Westkunst, Museen Der Stadt Köln, Cologne, Germany

1982

• Documenta 7, Kassel, Germany
• The Erotic Impulse, Roger Litz Gallery, Latest York

1983

• Looking at Women, Artemisia Gallery, Port, Illinois
• Festival of the Arts, Muhlenberg School, Allentown, Pennsylvania
• Contemporary Paintings from the Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina
• The Dense Laugh, Southern Ohio Museum and Racial Center, Portsmouth, Ohio

1984

• Auto and Culture, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Motown Institute of Arts, Detroit
• Paravents, Schloss Lorsfeld, Kerpen, Germany

1985 – 1986

• Cinquante Ans come into sight Dessins Americans: 1930-1980, Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts, Paris, France; Städtische Galerie im Stadelschen Kunstinstitut; Frankfurt, Germany

1986

• Column, Galerie Jule Kewenig, Frechen-Bachem, Germany
• Europa Note Amerika: die Geschicte einer kunstlerischen Faszination seit 1940, Museum Ludwig, Germany
• Line Drives, Gallery 53/Smithy Artworks, Cooperstown, New York

1987

• The Amused Eye: A National Sampling get through Humor in Art, The Evanston Break up Center, Evanston, Illinois

1988

• Gran Pavese, The Pennon Project, Muhka Museum Voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
• Roger Brown, William Painter, Duncan Hannah, Gloria Luria Gallery, Miami

1989

• Bilderstreit: Widerspruch, Einheit und Fragment in exposure Kunst seit 1960, Museum Ludwig rotation den Reinhallen der Kölner Messe, Essence, Germany

1992

• My Father’s House Has Many Mansions, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York

1993

• Darkness take precedence Light: Twentieth-Century Works from Texas Collections, Blaffer Gallery, The Art Museum decay Houston, Houston

1994

• Old Glory: The American Pennant in Contemporary Art, Cleveland Center cargo space Contemporary Art, Cleveland

1995

• Bunnies – A Division Show, Nolan / Eckman Gallery, Newfound York
• Drawing the Line: Reappraising Drawings Gone and forgotten and Present, Southhampton City Art Crowd, Southhampton, England; Manchester City Art Assemblage, Manchester, England; Ferens Art Gallery, Shell, England; Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, England

1996

• A Labor of Love, The New Museum, New York
• Bilder – Aquarelle – Zeichnungen, Galerie Fred Jahn, Munich, Germany
• Hommage graceful Copley, Galerie Fred Jahn, Munich, Germany
• Think, Galerie Brigitte Ihsen, Cologne, Germany
• Disegni Americani degli anni ottanta: 15 artisti, Galleria Milano, Milan, Italy

1997

• Magie der Zahl divulge der Kunst des 20, Jahrhunderts, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany

1998

• Summer Group Show, Nolan Record Eckman Gallery, New York
• Then and Condensed and Later: Art at Yale Owing to 1945, Yale University Art Gallery, Recent Haven, Connecticut
• Imagined World, David Nolan Verandah, New York

1999

• Bad-bad: That is a adequate excuse, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany

2000

• Prints, Nolan / Eckman Gallery, New York
• Im Gegenüber: Landschaften, Stilleben, Portraits, Galerie Von Braunbehrens, Munich, Germany
• Sweet Dreams and Nightmares: Dada and Surrealism from the Rosalnd and Melvin Jacobs Collection, Museum salary Contemporary Art North Miami, Miami

2001

• Kunst Sammeln I: Werke Zeitgenössischer Kunst aus quickly Sammlungen von Cramm, Faklckenburg, Kalkmann, Kunstverein Bad Salzdetfurth, Bodenburg, Germany
• Museum Unserer Wunsche, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany

2003

• Imagine: Selections unapproachable the Permanent Collection, Museum of Of the time Art North Miami, Miami

2004

• Funny Cuts: Cartoons und Comics in der Zeitgenössische Kunst, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany
• Eröffnungsausstellung Sammlung Frieder Burda, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany
• Christmas Tension Gifts, Artiscope, Brussels, Belgium
• Baume, Galerie Biedermann, Munich, Germany

2005

• International Zeichner, Galerie Biedermann, City, Germany
• Bilderwechsel III: Amerikanische Maleri, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany

2006

• Die anderen Bilder, Museum Der Stadt, Ratingen, Germany
• Ele-Mental, David Nolan Gallery, New York
• Six Feed Under: Autopsie unseres Umgangs mit Toten, Kunstmuseum Berne, Bern, Switzerland
• Models and Prototypes, Mildred Thoroughfare up one`s Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
• L’Amateur D’Estampes, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tourcoing, France
• Collage Effect, 1301PE, Los Angeles, California
• Group Exhibition, David Nolan Gallery, New York

2007

• Rockers Island: Olbricht Collection, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
• Deutsche und Amerikanische Maleri, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany
• Sixties! Art, Fashion, Design Pelt and Photography, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Grandeur Hague, Netherlands
• Affinities, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany

2008

• Diana und Aktaion: Der Verbotene Blick auf die Nacktheit, Museum Kunst Palest, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Karl Bohrmann – William N. Copley, Galerie Klauss Gerrit Friese, Stuttgart, Germany
• Carte Blanche III – Gedichte der Fakten,Galerie Fur Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany
• Liebe, Affection, Paare, Gustäve-Lübcke-Museum, Hamm, Germany
• Museum Im Kulturspeicher, Würzburg, Germany
• Ulm Museum, Ulm Germany
• Mirror, Mirror, Ed Thorp Gallery, New York

2009

• And Different Essays, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
• Exile On Main St., Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, Netherlands
• Jr. and Son’s, Zach Feuer Gallery, Creative York
• The Long Arm of Coincidence: Selections from the Rosalind and Melvin Dr. Collection, Pace MacGill Gallery, New York

2010

• Sixties – Seventies, Galerie 1900-2000, Paris, France
• Intimacy! Bathing in Art, Kunstmuseum Ahlen, Ahlen, Germany
• Permanent Trouble: Sammlung Kopp, Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

2011

• After Shelly Duval ’72 (Frogs on the High Line), Maccarone Gallery, New York
• Andreas Slominski & William N. Copley – X-Rated, M.E. Collector’s Room, Berlin, Germany
• ADAA Art Sunny, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York

2012

• Interiors, Apostle Kreps Gallery, New York

2013

• Re-View, Hauser lecturer Wirth Gallery, London, England
• Gang Bust: William N. Copley & Big Fat Caliginous Cock. Inc, Venus Over Manhattan, Original York
• Masculine / Feminine, Michael Fuchs Galerie, Berlin, Germany
• Building the Sukka, House reproach Gaga, Mexico City, Mexico

2014

• Pop Abstraction, Fredericks and Fraser Gallery and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York
• Purple States, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
• Live and Let Die, Modern Art, London, England
• Alexander the Great: The Iolas Gallery 1955 – 1987, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York
• Art Basle Miami Beach, Sadie Coles HQ, Miami
• The Surrealist Bungalow, Linn Lühn, Düsseldorf, Germany
• What Nerve!: Alternative Figures in American Compensation, 1960 to the Present, RISD Museum, Providence

2015

• The Violent Crab, David Roberts Pay back Foundation, London, England
• L’Impasse Ronsin, ADAA Go Fair, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York
• Viewer Discretion: Children of Bataille, Stux & Haller Gallery, New York
• The Shadow deterioration Taken, Algus Greenspon, New York
• Saul Cartoonist and William Copley: Take on interpretation Life, Galerie Klauss Gerrit Friese, Songster, Germany
• Painting 2.0: Expressions in the Data Age; Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany; Mumok Museum, Vienna, Switzerland

2016

• William Copley, Elma Inventor, Ina van Zyl, Galerie Onrust, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Olympia, Karma at Galerie Apostle Seguin, Paris, France
• William N. Copley become calm His Mentor, Magritte, VENUS at FIAC, Gran Palais, Paris, France
• The Revolutionary Sucide Mechanized Band, Rob Tufnell Gallery, Incense, Germany
• Impasse Ronsin, Paul Kasmin Gallery, Recent York

2017

• Animal Farm, The Brant Foundation, Borough, Connecticut
• Hope and Hazard: A Comedy pencil in Eros, Hall Art Foundation, Reading, Vermont
• Itinéraires, Musée D’Arts de Nantes, Nantes, France
• Schlaf: Eine produktive Zeitverschwendung, Museen Böttcherstrasse, Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum, Bremen, Germany
• An Incomplete Portrayal of Protest: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection, 1940 – 2017, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
• America! America! How real is real?, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany

2018

• Kinder Gentler Nation, Destiny, New York
• Mr. Natural; And Other Mechanism from the Allan Frumkin Gallery (1952 – 1987), VENUS, New York
• Nudes, Sadie Coles, London, England
• Atlas, Fondazione Prada, City, Italy
• Remember to React: 60 Years fence Collecting, NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
• Trance, Aïshti Foundation, Jal El Dib, Lebanon
• París pese a todo: Artistas extranheros, 1944-1968 (Lost, Loose person in charge Loved: Foreign Artists in Paris, 1944 – 1968), Museo Nacional Centro foul-mouthed Arta Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain

2019

• Fringe: William N. Copley, Jenny Watson & Saskia Pintelon, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium
• Recline: Likeness & Henri Matisse Prints, McClain Congregation, Houston, Texas

2020

• Valley of Gold: Southern Calif. and the Phantasmagoric, Kasmin, New York
• Karel Appel, André Butzler, William N. Painter, Ida Ekblad, Jeff Elrod, Walton Paddle, Tursic & Mille, Galerie Max Hetzler, London, England
• Helmut Newton 100 / William N. Copley 101 / Jonathan Eremite 51, Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Songster, Germany
• Impasse Ronsin. Murder, Love, and Focus in the Heart of Paris, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland

2023

• SEE YOURSELF AS LOVERS SEE YOU: William N. Copley | Dorothy Iannone, Sammlung Philara, Düsseldorf
• The Curatorial Imagination of Walter Hopps, The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas
• Pictures Girls Make: Portraitures, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles

2023–2024

• Paraventi: Remissness Screens from the 17th to Twentyone Centuries, Fondazione Prada, Milan
• 2024
• Americans in Paris: Artists working in Postwar France, 1946–1962, The Grey Art Museum, New Dynasty University, New York

Selected press

• Sam, Sherman, "Critics' Pics: William N. Copley at Sadie Coles HQ," Artforum, August 2011.
• Laster, Saint, "William N. Copley, 'X-Rated'," Time Out, 12/03/13.
• Smith, Roberta, "Playing the Renegade Awaken Eroticism or Rage," The New Royalty Times, 11/11/10.

Museum and public collections

• Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau
• Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin
• Art League of Chicago, Chicago
• Carleton University Art Room, Ottawa
• Centre Pompidou, Paris
• Denver Art Museum, Denver
• Destina Foundation, New York
• Falckenberg Collection, Hamburg
• Fondazione Prada, Milan
• Goetz Collection, Munich
• International Centre Of Visual aid Arts, Ljubljana
• Israel Museum, Jerusalem
• Lenbachhaus, Munich
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
• Maremont Collection, Chicago
• Menil Collection, Houston
• Moderna Museet, Stockholm
• Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Geneva
• Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Saint-Etienne
• Musée de l'Art Moderne de la Ville de Town, Paris
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Chicago
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Los Angeles
• Museum of Contemporary Art, North Algonquian, Miami
• Museum of Modern Art, New York
• Museum Ludwig, Cologne
• Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna
• Museum Ulm, Ulm
• Nagaoka Contemporary Matter Museum, Nagaoka
• Newport Harbour Museum, Newport
• Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
• Philara Collection, Düsseldorf
• Power Guild of Fine Arts, Sydney
• Princeton University Direct Museum, Princeton
• Städel Museum, Frankfurt
• Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
• Tate Collection, London
• Whitney Museum of American Make-believe, New York

Notes