Armand Dayot

Armand Dayot, (19 October 1851 – 2 October 1934), 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.