Can prurience be charming? If the artist is William Copley (1919–1996), then yes, it can. There’s something a little bit Thurber here, but with black-lace garters, innuendo, and the bowler hats of René Magritte and Milan Kundera. Gentle slapstick and a sense of the absurd invade his work in surrealistic ways. Sex, too. Copley was born in New York City, lived and painted in Paris during the 1950s, and returned to New York in 1963, when he was 44. Kasmin’s exhibition traces the evolution of Copley’s work during his important three decades in the city. —L.J.