François Méheut's Seaweed Harvesters - Brittany

He is not related to the painter Mathurin Méheut, who also drew inspiration from Breton traditions. His father was a cabinetmaker in Saint-Brieuc. After three years of study at the École régionale des Beaux-arts in Rennes, François Méheut was admitted to the École des Beaux-arts in Paris, where he studied under Jean Boucher. In 1930, he won the first Grand Prix de Rome in sculpture. Until 1940, when he was drafted and taken prisoner, he collaborated with the Susse foundry on the production of numerous sculptures. He was appointed professor of drawing in Boulogne-sur-Mer and later at the Lycée Eugène Livet in Nantes. He then abandoned sculpture to devote himself exclusively to painting.