Modigliani, Amedeo (1884-1920) - Ritratto di Max Jacob (1876-1944) 2

Max Jacob (; 12 July 1876 – 5 March 1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic.

Life and career

After spending his childhood in

Quimper Quimper (, ; br, Kemper ; la, Civitas Aquilonia or ) is a commune and prefecture of the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. Administration Quimper is the prefecture (capital) of the Finistère department. Geography The ...

, Brittany, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic career. He was one of the first friends

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

made in Paris. They met in the summer of 1901, and it was Jacob who helped the young artist learn French. Later, on the Boulevard Voltaire, he shared a room with Picasso, who remained a lifelong friend (and was included in his artwork ''

Three Musicians ''Three Musicians'' is the title of two similar collage and oil paintings by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. They were both completed in 1921 in Fontainebleau near Paris, France, and exemplify the Synthetic Cubist style; the flat planes of color ...

''). Jacob introduced him to

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the ...

, who in turn introduced Picasso to

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...

. He would become close friends with

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...

Jean Hugo Jean Hugo (19 November 1894 – 21 June 1984) was a painter, illustrator, theatre designer and author. He was born in Paris and died in his home at the Mas de Fourques, near Lunel, France. Brought up in a lively artistic environment, he began ...

, Christopher Wood and

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (, ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and ...

, who painted his portrait in 1916. He also befriended and encouraged the artist Romanin, otherwise known as French politician and future Resistance leader

Jean Moulin Jean Pierre Moulin (; 20 June 1899 – 8 July 1943) was a French civil servant and resistant who served as the first President of the National Council of the Resistance during World War II from 27 May 1943 until his death less than two months l ...

. Moulin's famous ''nom de guerre'' Max is presumed to be selected in honor of Jacob. Jacob, who was

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish, claimed to have had a vision of Christ in 1909, and converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He was hopeful that this conversion would alleviate his homosexual tendencies. Max Jacob is regarded as an important link between the

symbolists Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

and the

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

s, as can be seen in his prose poems ''Le cornet à dés'' (''The Dice Box'', 1917 – the 1948 Gallimard edition was illustrated by

) and in his paintings, exhibitions of which were held in New York City in 1930 and 1938. His writings include the novel ''Saint Matorel'' (1911), the

free verse Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French ''vers libre'' form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech. Definit ...

s ''Le laboratoire central'' (1921), and ''La défense de Tartuffe'' (1919), which expounds his philosophical and religious attitudes. The famous psychoanalyst

Jacques Lacan Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, , ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud", Lacan gave yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, and pu ...

attributed the quote "The truth is always new" to Jacob.

Death

Having moved outside of Paris in May 1936, to settle in

Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire (, literally ''Saint-Benoît on Loire'') is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France. Monastery This town hosts the '' Abbaye de Fleury'', also known as the ''Abbaye de Saint Benoît'' (Saint Benedict A ...

, Loiret, Max Jacob was arrested on 24 February 1944 by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

, and interned at

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish by birth, Jacob's brother Gaston had been previously arrested in January 1944, and deported to the concentration camp

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

along with their sister Myrthe-Lea; her husband was also deported by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

at this time. Following his incarceration at Orléans, Max was then transferred to

Drancy internment camp Drancy internment camp was an assembly and detention camp for confining Jews who were later deported to the extermination camps during the German occupation of France during World War II. Originally conceived and built as a modernist urban commu ...

from where he was to be transported in the next convoy to Auschwitz. However, said to be suffering from bronchial pneumonia, Max Jacob died on 5 March in the infirmary of La Cité de la Muette, a former housing block which served as the internment camp known as Drancy. First interred in Ivry after the war ended, his remains were transferred in 1949 by his artist friends

Jean Cassou Jean Cassou (9 July 1897 – 15 January 1986) was a French writer, art critic, poet, member of the French Resistance during World War II and the first Director of the Musée national d'Art moderne in Paris. Biography Jean Cassou was born at Bi ...

and

René Iché René Iché (21 January 1897 – 23 December 1954) was a 20th-century French sculptor. Life and work René Iché was born in Sallèles-d'Aude, France. He fought in World War I, where he was injured and gassed. After the war, he earned a degre ...

(who sculpted the tomb of the poet) to the cemetery at

in the

Loiret Loiret (; ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It takes its name from the river Loiret, which is contained wholly within the department. In 2019, Loiret had a population of 680,434.

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

Pseudonyms

As well as his ''nom d'état civil'', or regular name, Jacob worked under at least two pseudonyms, Léon David and Morven le Gaëlique.

In popular culture

German actor

Udo Kier Udo Kierspe (born 14 October 1944), known professionally as Udo Kier, is a German actor. Known primarily as a character actor, Kier has appeared in more than 220 films in both leading and supporting roles throughout Europe and the Americas. He h ...

plays Jacob in the 2004 film ''Modigliani''. In the 2006 film '' Monsieur Max'', which deals with the life of Jacob from the First World War until his death, he was played by

Jean-Claude Brialy Jean-Claude Brialy (30 March 1933 – 30 May 2007) was a French actor and film director. Early life Brialy was born in Aumale (now Sour El-Ghozlane), French Algeria, where his father was stationed with the French Army. Brialy moved to mainland ...

; this was Brialy's last film. In the 2013 Spanish film , Jacob is played by

Lionel Abelanski Lionel Abelanski (born 22 October 1964) is a French actor. Life and career Abelanski was born in Paris, France. He has appeared in television and film roles since 1989. In 1999 he was nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actor Th ...

T. R. Knight Theodore Raymond Knight (born March 26, 1973) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dr. George O'Malley on the ABC medical drama television series ''Grey's Anatomy'' (2005–2009, 2020), which earned him a nomination for the P ...

portrays Jacob in the 2018 season of the television series ''

Genius Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for future works, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabiliti ...

'', which focuses on the life and career of Pablo Picasso.

Gallery

File:Max Jacob Le pardon de Sainte-Anne.jpg, ''Le pardon de Sainte-Anne'' File:Max Jacob Ploaré.jpg, ''Le clocher de Ploaré'' File:Max Jacob Pont-l'Abbé.jpg, ''Le marché à Pont-l'Abbé'' File:287 Calvaire Guengat.JPG, ''Le calvaire de Guengat''

References

External links

Marevna, "Homage to Friends from Montparnasse" (1962)
Top left to right:

Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...

Ilya Ehrenburg Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg (russian: link=no, Илья́ Григо́рьевич Эренбу́рг, ; – August 31, 1967) was a Soviet writer, revolutionary, journalist and historian. Ehrenburg was among the most prolific and notable autho ...

Chaïm Soutine Chaïm Soutine (13 January 1893 – 9 August 1943) was a Belarusian painter who made a major contribution to the expressionist movement while living and working in Paris. Inspired by classic painting in the European tradition, exemplified by the ...

, his wife

Jeanne Hébuterne Jeanne Hébuterne (; 6 April 1898 – 26 January 1920) was a French painter and art model best known as the frequent subject and common-law wife of the artist Amedeo Modigliani. She took her own life the day after Modigliani died, and is now bu ...

, Max Jacob, gallery owner

Leopold Zborowski Leopold may refer to: People * Leopold (given name) * Leopold (surname) Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons'' * Leopold Bloom, the protagonist o ...

. Bottom left to right: Marevna, Marika (Marevna and

's daughter),

Moise Kisling Moise is a given name and surname, with differing spellings in its French and Romanian origins, both of which originate from the name Moses: Moïse is the French spelling of Moses, while Moise is the Romanian spelling. As a surname, Moisè and M ...

.
Association les Amis de Max Jacob

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob, Max 1876 births 1944 deaths 19th-century French painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism French Catholic poets French civilians killed in World War II 19th-century French Jews French male painters French male poets French people who died in Nazi concentration camps French Roman Catholics Jewish painters Modern painters Writers from Quimper 20th-century French male writers LGBT Jews Gay artists LGBT Roman Catholics French gay writers French Jews who died in the Holocaust Drancy internment camp prisoners Deaths from pneumonia in France Deaths from bronchopneumonia LGBT artists from France 19th-century French male artists