William N. Copley

William Nelson Copley was an American painter, writer, collector, and patron of the arts. He was born on January 24, 1919, in New York City, to a wealthy family. Copley spent most of his life traveling between Europe and the United States and was associated with the Surrealist and Pop art movements.

Aside from his own art practice, Copley was also a patron and collector of the arts. He helped to fund and promote the work of other artists, including Marcel Duchamp and René Magritte. In the 1960s, he founded the short-lived but influential art magazine, "The Letter Edged in Black Press," which published works by artists such as Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, and Andy Warhol.

Copley passed away on May 7, 1996, in Sugar Loaf Key, Florida. Today, his work can be found in the collections of major museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.