Armand Dayot

Who was Armand Dayot?

Armand Dayot, was a French art critic, art historian and leftist politician. He was born in Paimpol, Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany. He founded the journal L'Art et les artistes and the Breton liberal organisation les Bleus de Bretagne.

He became successively the head of the prefecture of Oran, head of the Ministry of Arts in the cabinet of Léon Gambetta, and inspector general of the Ministry of Fine Arts.

In Brittany he was the principal force behind the Bleus de Bretagne, which promoted modern pro-liberal thought in the province. Dayot's principal contribution was to organise the creation of statues to revolutionaries and freethinkers.

Dayot's thinking on the relationship between the arts and politics was deeply influenced by the work of John Ruskin and William Morris.