Ludmila Kleinmondová

Ludmila Kleinmondová, also known as Ludmila Janovská-Kleinmondová (February 10, 1870, Smíchov near Prague – 1955, Prague), was a Czech painter and painting instructor, and a member of the Krasoumná jednota and Umělecká beseda art societies.

Born the third of four children to tinsmith and metal craftsman Rudolf Kleinmond and his wife Gabriela, Ludmila grew up surrounded by skilled craftsmanship. She attended the Women’s Production Association school in Prague, where her mother was active. Later, from 1887 to 1894, she studied painting and drawing at the Prague School of Applied Arts under Professor Schikaneder, and she was among the first female graduates, though she was not allowed to participate in life drawing of male figures.

Soon after graduating, Kleinmondová became a member of Krasoumná jednota and exhibited at its annual exhibitions. Specializing in still life and floral paintings, she created works such as “Zátiší s ovocem” (Still Life with Fruit), “Azalky” (Azaleas), and “Růže” (Roses). She married academic painter Jan Karla Janovský, with whom she traveled throughout the Adriatic. In 1926, they opened a private painting school in Smíchov. Her daughter, Ludmila Janovská (* 1907), also became a painter.

Kleinmondová’s preferred subjects were still life, flowers, and fruit, working in two stylistic approaches: a free, loose style and a classical realism inspired by 17th-century Dutch masters. From 1895, she regularly exhibited with the Umělecká beseda, and her piece “Hyacinty” (Hyacinths) was selected for an album of modern Czech painters in 1902, widely distributed for school decoration and art instruction.

On travels to Slovenia, Croatia, and the Adriatic, she documented Slavic folk customs and produced a series of costume studies for the album “Austro-Hungarian Types.” She also collected antique folk artifacts, some of which were acquired by the Prague Ethnographic Museum. In 1895, she served on the organizing committee for the Ethnographic Exhibition of the Czechoslovaks.