René Yves Creston

René-Yves Creston, pseudonym of René Pierre Joseph Creston, born on October 25, 1898 in Saint-Nazaire and died in Étables-sur-Mer on May 30, 1964, was a French painter, engraver, illustrator, sculptor and ethnologist.

He was appointed official painter of the French Navy in 1936.After studying in Ancenis and Saint-Nazaire, where he learned Breton, René-Yves Creston received two scholarships for four years to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Nantes, then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

In 1923, he co-founded the Seiz Breur ("Union of Seven Brothers")^, with his wife Suzanne Creston and Jeanne Malivel. They set themselves the mission of renewing Breton folk art.

After Jeanne Malivel's death in 1926. René-Yves Cresson revived the group's second generation by taking part in the 1937 Universal Exhibition.

After Jeanne Malivel's death in 1926, he became the real coordinator of the Seiz Breur movement, and remained so until February 1944, when he gave way to Xavier de Langlais.

In 1927, in collaboration with sculptor Jules-Charles Le Bozec, he designed the costumes for three plays: Ar C'hornandoned (Les Korrigans) by Job Le Bayon, Tog Jani (Le chapeau de Jeanne) by Yves Le Moal, and Lina by Roparz Hemon, which premiered in January 1927.

He writes for Breiz Atao and helps with the art magazines Kornog (Occident) and Keltia. He switched from wood engraving to watercolor or oil painting, worked for Quimper earthenware manufacturers, then became a sculptor. We owe him a sculpture of Nominoë. He illustrates the book Kan da Gornog by Youenn Drezen, for which he creates a new typography. In 1926, René-Yves Creston again left woodcut illustrations for La Brière by Alphonse de Châteaubriant.