Robert Yan (1901 - 1994)

The son of a sea captain, Robert Yan was born in 1901 in Arcachon. While he was still very young, his father moved with his family to Quintin and then to Landerneau.

His first vocation being architecture, he entered the National School of Fine Arts in 1920, but turned to painting in 1924 and entered the studio of Eugène Narbonne. He made his debut at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1928, then exhibited in galleries in Brest, Paris and Concarneau. In 1929, he went on a grand tour of Brittany, which remains his major source of inspiration. He also painted Vernon, in Ile-de-France, as well as the Sologne and the mountains of the Drôme.

In 1934, he became a member of the Salon des Artistes français and the same year joined the Seiz Breur movement, presided over by René-Yves Creston, whom he had met at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1923. In 1937, he participated with Pierre Bertrand in the decoration of the "Fishing and Agriculture" room of the Brittany Pavilion at the Universal Exhibition, which earned him a medal.

He was appointed painter of the navy in 1973 and became friends with Barnoin, Creston, Delpy, Ménardeau and Péron.