ART & DESIGN

Get to Know the Mystery Artist with Beyoncé’s Approval

William N. Copley is the latest artist sending the Bey hive into a Google frenzy.


Beyonce and William N. Copley

The glare of Beyoncé‘s celebrity can be frightfully bright, like when she had everyone Googling “Warsan Shire” at the same time – as the credits rolled at the end of the “Lemonade” premiere, the poet was prominently cited – or when, yesterday, she posted a picture of herself at the Menil Collection in Houston during a recent stop on her “Formation” tour. The recipient of Bey’s fame runoff? The late William N. Copley, the self-taught artist who went by CPLY, and whose current retrospective was on view at her hometown museum.

Just like the trendy artists hanging in her TriBeCa apartment, including David Hammons and Richard Prince, Copley’s an equally fashionable choice: “William N. Copley: The World According to CPLY” was organized in partnership with the Prada Foundation. Encompassing around 100 works, it’s the artist’s first comprehensive museum showing in the U.S., starting with his early Surrealist-inspired works in Paris in the ’50s, and follows the themes he returned to for decades, like nationalism, cars, and nudes. Like Bey, though, he kept himself busy: Copley also collected art, even staring his own gallery in Beverly Hills in the ’40s. The artist may be long gone – he died at 77 in 1996 – but he’ll stay in Beyoncé’s spotlight just a bit longer: If you’re headed down south, the show’s up until July 24th.

Photos: Get to Know the Mystery Artist with Beyoncé’s Approval

Beyoncé at the William N. Copley retrospective at the Menil Collection in Houston. Photo by @beyonce.

“Remember the Day,” oil on canvas, 1961. Courtesy of William N. Copley Estate and Paul Kasmin Gallery New York. © 2016 Estate of William N. Copley / Copley LLC / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“Scorpio Rising,” acrylic on linen, 1973. Private Collection Courtesy Venus Over Manhattan. © 2016 Estate of William N. Copley / Copley LLC / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“Untitled (Think Metronome in collaboration with Man Ray),” mixed media, 1966. Rosalind & Melvin Jacobs Collection, New York. © 2016 Estate of William N. Copley / Copley LLC / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“American Girdle,” oil and attached girdle on canvas, 1965. Rosalind & Melvin Jacobs Collection, New York. © 2016 The Estate of William N. Copley / Copley LLC / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“Untitled,” oil on canvas, 1957. Collection of The Destina Foundation, New York. © 2016 Estate of William N. Copley / Copley LLC / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“En Garde,” oil and lace collage on canvas, 1962. The Menil Collection, Houston. © 2016 Estate of William N. Copley / Copley LLC / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“Well Spent Youth,” oil on canvas, 1946. Collection of The Destina Foundation, New York. © 2016 Estate of William N. Copley / Copley LLC / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“French Horn & Piano Stool,” acrylic on canvas, 1970. Collection of Claire Copley and Alan Eisenberg. © 2016 The Estate of William N. Copley / Copley LLC / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“Lost Innocence,” acrylic on canvas, 1965. Ann Snider, Los Angeles. © 2016 Estate of William N. Copley / Copley LLC / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“La Muerticita,” acrylic on linen, 1984. Private collection, the Netherlands, Courtesy: Paul van Esch & Partners Art Advisory, Amsterdam. © 2016 Estate of William N. Copley / Copley LLC / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“The Bride and the Groom Stripped Bare by Each Other, Even,” oil on canvas, 1963. Aargauer Kunsthaus Aarau, Switzerland / The Andreas Züst Collection. © 2016 Estate of William N. Copley / Copley LLC / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“Rain,” acrylic on linen, 1973. Olbricht Collection. © 2016 Estate of William N. Copley / Copley LLC / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“The Cold War,” oil on canvas, 1962. The Menil Collection, Houston. © 2016 Estate of William N. Copley / Copley LLC / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“Reclining Nude,” oil on canvas, 1953. Kasper König, Berlin. © 2016 Estate of William N. Copley / Copley LLC / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

“1984 and All That,” oil on canvas, 1984. Private collection, the Netherlands, Courtesy of Paul van Esch & Partners Art Advisory, Amsterdam. © 2016 Estate of William N. Copley / Copley LLC / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

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