The Subversive Joy of the Erotic: Reassessing William N. Copley’s “X-Rated” Series at Galerie Max Hetzler

In the hallowed halls of contemporary art, few figures possess a trajectory as idiosyncratic—or as intellectually spirited—as William N. Copley. Known to the art world simply as "CPLY," the artist bridged the chasm between the fading echoes of mid-century Surrealism and the burgeoning, vibrant language of Pop art. This spring, Berlin’s Galerie Max Hetzler invites audiences to revisit one of the most daring chapters in Copley’s career with X-Rated (1972–1974). On view through April 22, 2026, the exhibition presents a comprehensive look at the artist’s prolific series of paintings and works on paper, which dared to find aesthetic beauty and profound joy within the illicit domain of pornography.

A Legacy of Surrealist Provocation: The Chronology of CPLY

To understand the audacity of the X-Rated series, one must first trace the unusual path that led Copley to the canvas. Long before he became an internationally recognized painter, Copley was a man of letters and a burgeoning impresario. In the late 1940s, he operated the Copley Galleries in Beverly Hills alongside his brother-in-law, the artist John Ployardt. It was here, in the sun-drenched landscape of Southern California, that Copley found himself at the epicenter of a cultural migration.

As a conduit for European modernism, Copley played host to the exiled titans of Surrealism, including Man Ray, Max Ernst, and Marcel Duchamp. These encounters were foundational; under the mentorship of dealer Alexander Iolas, Copley was encouraged to pivot from the role of a gallery director to that of a creator. By 1951, he had adopted the moniker CPLY and debuted his work at a Los Angeles bookstore before relocating to France.

While he was a generation younger than his Surrealist mentors, Copley’s artistic DNA was deeply embedded with their tenets. He inherited their penchant for humor, the exploration of the unconscious, and a preoccupation with eroticism as a primary driver of human experience. However, where his predecessors often shrouded their desires in dreamlike symbolism, Copley eventually chose a more direct, confrontational, and brightly colored path. The X-Rated series, created between 1972 and 1975, marks the apex of this evolution—a period where Copley moved away from the oblique toward a radical, unapologetic engagement with the sexual act.

Breaking the Barrier: The Philosophy of the “X-Rated” Series

The X-Rated series was born out of a specific, restrictive cultural moment. During the early 1970s, the United States remained locked in a puritanical struggle regarding the distribution of adult media. Hardcore pornography was largely illegal, relegated to the shadows of "under the counter" transactions. Copley, viewing these materials not with moral apprehension but with creative curiosity, began sourcing images from adult magazines.

His stated goal was transformative: he aimed to "break through the barrier of pornography into the area of joy." This was not merely an act of provocation; it was a philosophical endeavor. Copley famously remarked, "That’s what makes sex so much fun: since nobody really understands it, the possibilities for originality are endless."

The resulting works are a masterclass in tonal range. In The Seven Year Itch (1973), the viewer encounters a surprising tenderness, while Viridiana (1973) radiates an exuberant energy. By stripping away the sleaze associated with the source material and replacing it with bold, flat, and often geometric backgrounds, Copley transformed the carnal into the artful. His figures, rendered with a slapdash, comic-book aesthetic, are never treated with the clinical gaze of a pornographer. Instead, they are treated with the playfulness of a caricaturist, effectively rendering the "obscene" into something fundamentally human and humorous.

The Architecture of the Image: Process and Technique

One of the most significant contributions of the current exhibition at Galerie Max Hetzler is its focus on Copley’s rigorous creative process. The X-Rated works were not impulsive sketches; they were the product of a deliberate, two-stage preparation.

Typically, Copley would begin with a small-scale, intimate study, capturing the initial spark of the composition. He would then move to a larger iteration, where he would refine the dynamics of the scene, adjust the interplay of light and space, and heighten the pictorial energy. By displaying these preparatory drawings alongside their finished counterparts—such as the pairing of Calcutta (1973) and its companion piece Untitled (1973)—the gallery provides a rare window into the artist’s mind.

The paintings themselves maintain a deliberate looseness. The limbs are often attenuated, the outlines schematic, and the figures are set against vibrant, candy-colored backdrops. This stylistic choice has often led critics to compare Copley to Henri Matisse. However, while Matisse used the female form to suggest luxury, calm, and voluptuousness, Copley used his form to insist on the visceral reality of the act. He refuses to let the viewer look away, yet he ensures that the "artfulness" of his background patterns prevents the work from sliding into pure, unadulterated lasciviousness.

Official Responses and Cultural Resonance

When the X-Rated series was first exhibited in 1974 at the New York Cultural Center, the climate was primed for controversy. The exhibition was curated by the visionary Mario Amaya, a director known for his progressive stance. Despite the inherent risk of exhibiting work derived from "adult magazines," the critical response was overwhelmingly favorable.

Peter Schjeldahl, writing for Art in America, provided a seminal assessment, labeling the show "uniformly gorgeous" and identifying it as a "highly satisfying development" in Copley’s career. The shock value was successfully tempered by the titles of the works, which borrowed from the lexicon of classic cinema—Les Quatre Cent Coups, The Exorcist, and Tobacco Road.

These titles act as a clever, intellectual buffer. They create a "Surrealist disjunction" where the title rarely matches the graphic nature of the imagery. By framing these scenes of copulation and orgies through the lens of Hollywood, Copley invited the viewer to engage in a "cascade of associations." The viewer is not merely looking at a sexual act; they are navigating a labyrinth of cultural references, puns, and visual jokes.

Implications: The Subversive Charge in a Digital Age

As the exhibition at Galerie Max Hetzler proves, the X-Rated series has not lost its edge. In our contemporary world—a landscape saturated with digital imagery and hyper-exposed sexuality—Copley’s work retains a surprising, subversive charge.

The implications of these works are twofold. First, they represent a rejection of artistic neutrality. Copley refused to be a passive observer of the human condition; he insisted on inserting his own voice, his own humor, and his own moral elasticity into the discourse. Second, the series serves as a reminder that "the obscene" is a moving target. What was once a source of moral outrage is now viewed as a sophisticated exploration of sexual politics.

By merging the high-art tradition of European modernism with the low-brow pulp of the 1970s, Copley managed to dismantle the walls that separated "serious art" from the mundane realities of human desire. His paintings do not merely depict sex; they celebrate the mystery of it. In a world that is increasingly polarized and arguably more censorious than we care to admit, William N. Copley’s X-Rated series remains a vibrant, necessary testament to the power of art to reclaim joy from the clutches of moralism.

Visitors to the Berlin exhibition are encouraged to look past the initial "shock" and consider the structural brilliance of these canvases. They are, as critic James R. Mellow once suggested, almost "too artful to be libidinous." And therein lies their enduring genius: they prove that when the gaze is tempered by intelligence and a sense of play, even the most taboo subject can be elevated to the level of pure, uninhibited art.