John Coplans Art for Sale at Auction

Photographer, Painter, b. 1920 - d. 2003

John Coplans (1920-2003) was a British born artist, photographer, writer, curator and museum director who had a major influence on the post war California art scene through his editorial work on Artforum. Coplans was a London artist working through a variety of modernist styles when he emigrated to San Francisco in 1960. Soon after he began to work in a west coast hard-edge style. He was on the founding editorial staff of Artforum from 1962-1971, and was Editor in chief from 1972-1977. He is responsible for Artforum's icnoic square format. In the 1980s Coplans began producing what he is best known for, large black and white photos of his aging naked body, which have been collected by museums the world over.