Editing Max Jacob (section)

==Life and career==
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After spending his childhood in [[Quimper]], 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]] made in Paris. They met in the summer of 1901, and it was Jacob who helped the young artist learn French.<ref>{{cite book|first=Tim|last=McNeese| title=Pablo Picasso| year=2006 |page=33|publisher=Infobase | isbn=1438106874}}</ref> Later, on the Boulevard Voltaire, he shared a room with Picasso,<ref>{{cite book|last=Jacob | first=Max| editor-first=Maria |editor-last=Green| title=Hesitant fire: selected prose of Max Jacob| year=1991|page= xvi| publisher=U of Nebraska Press| isbn=0803225741}}</ref> who remained a lifelong friend (and was represented as the monk in his painting ''[[Three Musicians (Picasso)|Three Musicians]]'', which Picasso painted in 1921). Jacob introduced him to [[Guillaume Apollinaire]], who in turn introduced Picasso to [[Georges Braque]]. He would become close friends with [[Jean Cocteau]], [[Jean Hugo]], [[Christopher Wood (English painter)|Christopher Wood]] and [[Amedeo Modigliani]], 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]].  Moulin's famous ''nom de guerre'' Max is presumed to be selected in honor of Jacob.

Jacob, who was [[Jew]]ish, claimed to have had a vision of Christ in 1909, and converted to [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholicism]]. He was hopeful that this conversion would alleviate his homosexual tendencies.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/max-jacob | title=Max Jacob| date=21 March 2020}}</ref>

Max Jacob is regarded as an important link between the [[Symbolism (movement)|symbolists]] and the [[surrealist]]s, as can be seen in his prose poems ''Le cornet à dés'' (''The Dice Box'', 1917 – the 1948 [[Gallimard]] edition was illustrated by [[Jean Hugo]]) 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]]s ''Le laboratoire central'' (1921), and ''La défense de Tartuffe'' (1919), which expounds his philosophical and religious attitudes.

The famous psychoanalyst [[Jacques Lacan]] attributed the quote "The truth is always new" to Jacob.<ref>Lacan, Jacques (2008) ''My Teaching'', Verso Press.</ref>