William N. Copley discovered his distinctive style in the mid-1950s: a narrative imagery characterized by rounded and curved forms, bold outlines, vibrant colors, a sense of space derived from strong patterns, and striking, sometimes provocative motifs. His works are hard to pigeonhole in artistic terms, as they combine a comic style with influences from American Pop Art and European Surrealism. “This whole world, often in cheerful candy colors, and charged with eroticism and desire, presents itself so defiantly in a reduced, symbolic simplicity and a style reminiscent of comics and picture stories that it wants to be perceived first and foremost in its self-centeredness.” (Stephan Berg, in: Klaus Gerrit Friese (ed.), William N. Copley. Unter uns, p. 9)
While lightly dressed female figures have appeared in Copley’s paintings since the 1950s, the artist increasingly emphasized the pornographic aspect of his work from the 1970s onward, giving rise to the now legendary series “X-Rated” (1972–1975), featuring obscene and frivolous motifs from every facet of human sexuality. Copley often took his motifs from pornographic magazines and transformed them into painterly explorations of the human body and the sexual act against opulent, brightly colored backgrounds reminiscent of Matisse or Vuillard. The artist explains: “For me, it’s a very simple thing: pornography has to do with repression, and eroticism with fantasy [...]. I am trying to break through the barrier of pornography into the realm of joy.” (William N. Copley in conversation with Sam Hunter, in: Exhibition catalog CPLY. X-Rated, New York Cultural Center, New York 1974)
The artist frequently chose titles he borrowed from famous works of film history. Such as “Monsieur Verdou” (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, film from 1947), “Come Back Little Sheba” (Prada Collection, Milan, 1952 film), the work offered here is also named after a famous film, the 1930 production “The Blue Angel” (directed by Josef von Sternberg). A famous film still shows Marlene Dietrich in the lead role of Lola Lola, seated in a provocative pose, wearing a corset and garter belt—a reference to which Copley undoubtedly alludes with his anatomically inaccurate yet shamelessly provocative depiction.
Comparable works from Copley’s singular period in the early 1970s are in important international museum collections like the Museum Ludwig, Cologne; the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Fondazione Prada, Milan; the Art Institute of Chicago; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. [CH]