Jacob, Max. THE MASSAGE. Ink on paper, not dated. Signed in pencil and inscribed "A Paul Meral." 8 x 10 3/4 inches. In very good condition. Max Jacob (French, 1876-1944) was a poet, painter and critic. Jacob met Pablo Picasso in 1901, soon after Picasso moved to Paris. They shared rooms and Jacob helped Picasso learn French. He was a major figure in the avant garde that included Apollinaire, Picasso, Braque, Modigliani and others. Although he had converted to Catholicism, he was arrested and interned by the Germans in 1944, and died of pneumonia just before he was to have been sent to Auschwitz. Paul Meral, 1895-1946 was a Belgian poet. He is best known for his collaborations with the composer Arthur Honegger, who set his work to music.
