From «La Femme assise» (1964) to «Libérett’» (1979): Copi or the deconstruction of the game of appearances through the body

Abstract

Copi began drawing La Femme assise in Le Nouvel Observateur in 1964 and released his Libérett’ in Libération in 1979. The genius of a versatile artist, because Copi was also a writer, playwright and actor, was unleashed on the Parisian streets when he decided to sell his drawings in “Le Pont des Arts” in 1963. The features that draw and characterise the silhouette of a “seated woman” have nothing to do with those that reveal the outline of a trans, “monstrous” body, with female breasts and a male penis and testicles, which reacts to its will outside traditional sexual and social norms. In this work, we will try to demonstrate how Copi, through these particular caricatures, introduces the reader to a game of appearances of identity and sexuality from the body in order to challenge established models of gender and sex, to demarcate fluid identity and sexuality from heteronormative constraints and to promote, finally, freedom of expression in all senses of the term.