Often credited as a bridging point between European Surrealism and American Pop-Art, William N. Copley’s work revels in the tension between the academic and the puerile. In Copley’s satirical arsenal is a series of self-taught figurative styles, circus-poster caricatures, and slapstick nudity. Copley’s pre-eminence in the New York scene in the 1960’s occurred as the hegemony of Abstract Expressionism was fading, allowing both the commentariat’s tastes and the American art market room to freewheel. However, for every candy-coloured scene of vulgarity, there is a nod to Manet or Degas; a brash approach to social commentary belies the poised wit of a polymathic individual. As an artist, poet and collector, Copley regularly engaged with the limits to self-awareness and self-control. Accordingly, Copley’s work delivers his unique insight into the paradoxes found in morality, nationalism and high-seriousness.
“The problem that interests me most in painting – it’s a tough problem – is to find that 50/50 balance between form and humour which many great masterpieces of literature have achieved”
—William N. Copley
In the present example, the art-historical legacy of the female nude is approached in a manner that is characteristically puckish. It stands out against other works that portray scenes of lewd sex acts and debauched re-imaginings of romantic genre paintings. A lone figure, Briget, is portrayed with sincere reverence to feminine divinity. Fleshy curves are caressed by decorative bed sheets and golden locks are rendered as a single cascading form. Yet for all of Copley’s sentimentality, he condemns the subject, and indeed his own gaze, with the misogyny inferred from the title. The very absence of a pervasive male lover, typically found in the rest of his work, is Briget’s only damming feature. Copley drolly pricks the notion of female agency, reducing Briget’s worth to her capacity for sexual gratification and regards the viewer as an equally scathing participant.
