Born at Plouhinec, in the Finistère department of Brittany, into a Breton-speaking family, he learned French during training as a carpenter-joiner, mastering the alphabet when in military service. Later turning to sculpture, he was awarded a scholarship which enabled him to study at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, in the atelier of Antonin Mercié. Apart from sculpture in general (he also worked as a wood engraver, and ceramicist), he was responsible in Lower Brittany for 22 war memorials, mostly of pacifist inspiration.