Measures 15 inches diameter. Created 1957. Signed on verso, no. 107. Numbered 132/150.Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). The foremost figure in 20th-century art. Leader of the School of Paris, he was known for his technical virtuosity, and originality. His production is usually described in series of overlapping periods. In his melancholy blue period such works as The Old Guitarist (1903; Art Inst., Chicago) depicted, in blue tones, the world of the poor. His rose period is characterized by a lighter palette and subjects from the circus. In 1907, Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d' Avignon (Mus. Mod. Art, N. Y.C.), the most significant work in the development of Cubism and abstraction, and a herald of analytic cubism. In the synthetic phase of cubism (after 1912), his forms became larger and more representational, e.g., The Three Musicians (1921; Mus. Mod. Art, N. Y.C.). In the 1920s he also introduced collage. His second landmark work was Guernica (Reina Sofa, MadridCentro de Arte Reina Sofa), an impassioned condemnation of war and fascism. In his later years, Picasso turned to creations of fantasy and comic invention.