A lovely full color print after pastel painting "Cock" by Pablo Picasso. Comes from a rare art folio published by Crown Publishers, printed in Italy in circa 1969. Printed on one side. Hand tipped-in on a sheet of paper. Numbered: VII. Information on the back of paper is related to another piece in the folio. Excellent condition - never framed. Overall 9.5" W x 11.75" H Image 6.2" W x 8.6" H It is difficult to say whether this cock, so proud of its own appearance, is more afraid of itself or of the symbol it may embody. Barr reports that Picasso, on being visited in his studio by the American painter Xavier Gonzales while he was painting of of these subjects told Gonzales: "There have always been cocks, but like everything else in life, they need to be discovered; just as Corot discovered the morning and Renoir discovered women.... We have always seen cocks, but we have never seen them so well as on the weather-cocks of America". The propensity to trace a grotesque expression in every human condition which Picasso has felt since the beginning of his artistic growth is explicitly stated in those words. The aggressiveness in the attitude and in the eye, which are consistent in their forms, represent, despite the summary stylistic execution, an image which by displaying its strength reveals its inner ludicrous weakness.