COPLEY, WILLIAM NELSON
1919 New York - 1996 Key West

Title: Les Etats Unis du Monde.
Date: 1962.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Measurement: 115 x 145cm.
Notation: Signed and dated lower right: CPLY 62.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.


We are grateful to Mr Anthony Atlas, William N. Copley Estate, New York, for his kind, scientific support.

Provenance:
- Estate of Max Ernst (1962 directly from the artist)
- Dorothea Tanning Collection (since 1976 through inheritance)
- In family ownership since then

Exhibitions:
- Galerie Iris Clert, Paris 1962
- Hanover Gallery, London 1963
- Kunsthalle Bern, 1980
- Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris 1980/81 (label)
- Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven 1981
- Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe 1981

Literature:
- Exhib. cat. W. N. Copley Paintings, Hanover Gallery, London 1963, cat. no. 3, ill. (titled differently here)
- Exhib. cat. William N. Copley, Kunsthalle Bern/Centre Georges Pompidou/Van Abbemuseum, Berne 1980, ill.


- From the estate of his artist friend Max Ernst
- Characteristic of Copley's provocative and ironic approach to nationalist ideas
- Offered on the international auction market for the first time
- Significant image that caricatures the "Star Spangled Banner" with its stripes.