Maltese Falcon. 1973.
Acrylic on canvas.
Lower right signed "cply" and dated. Titled on the stretcher. 114.5 x 147.5 cm (45 x 58 in).


• From the celebrated “X-rated” (1972-1975) series, in which Copley combined erotic motifs with the titles of classic Hollywood films and plays.
• Part of the seminal “X-Rated” exhibition at the New York Cultural Center in 1974, a key event in Copley's career.
• Paintings from the same series are in, among others, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and the Collezione Prada, Milan.

This work is registered with the William N. Copley Estate, New York. We are grateful to Anthony Atlas for his kind support in cataloging this lot.

PROVENANCE: Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York (with the gallery label on the stretcher).
Olbricht Collection, Essen/Berlin (acquired from the above in 2010).

EXHIBITION: CPLY/X-Rated. An Exhibition of New Paintings and Drawings, New York Cultural Center in collaboration with Fairleigh Dickinson University, New York, March 22 - May 19, 1974 (with the typographically inscribed exhibition label on the reverse).
William N. Copley. X-Rated, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, November 6 - December 11, 2010, p. 53 (illu.).
X-RATED mit William N. Copley und Andreas Slominski, me Collectors Room, Berlin, January 30 - May 8, 2011.
William N. Copley, Fondazione Prada, Milan, October 20, 2016 - January 8, 2017, p. 206, cat. no. 418 (ill.).