CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Kristine Moore never met her great-grandfather, but knew the family lore surrounding the artwork he left behind in Czech Village.
Klement Kalous, also known as Clint, Klint or Clement, immigrated to the United States from Bohemia when he was just 21 in 1913, leaving behind his four siblings.
Documents uncovered by Moore show his occupation as a painter and interior decorator, and he married Anna Biderman in 1915, two years after his arrival.
The couple had four children, including Robert Clement Kalous, Moore’s grandfather.
Related: See what business has opened in the former Sykora Bakery
Kristine Moore is shown Nov. 28, 2025, in her home in Cedar Rapids. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Times grew tough for the family when the Great Depression hit in 1929, as was the case for many.
By 1930, a newspaper ad Moore found showed the family farm near the small community of Western, Iowa, south of Cedar Rapids, was being auctioned.
The farm’s 80 acres included a four-room house, cow barn, hen house, corn crib and other outbuildings, “all in good repair,” according to the ad.
It was that same year that Kalous left his mark in what would later be known as Czech Village in Cedar Rapids.
As a painter, paid employment likely became difficult to find for Kalous, and with four children to feed, he agreed to trade his work for food from the owners of Sykora Bakery, 73 16th Ave. SW.
An oil painting created by Klement Kalous in 1930 is shown Nov. 21, 2025, inside the former Sykora Bakery in Czech Village. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
“I heard he painted it in exchange for bread,” Moore said.
The bakery, then owned by Joseph and Clara Sykora, was well known for its rye bread and other Czech baked goods.
One of the paintings Kalous created, a pastoral scene with a “Sykora Bakery” sign nestled in the landscape, is currently being restored.
Artist Scott Takes, known for his mural art, has been painstakingly working on the 95-year-old oil painting, high on an interior wall of the building.
The painting survived the record 2008 flood in Cedar Rapids, just inches above the floodline, but had been deteriorating in recent years.
Takes was able to halt the flaking to start the restoration work.
“Once I got it sealed with a clear coat, I was able to take it back in time,” he said.
Kory Nanke, who purchased the building after the bakery closed in 2023, heard about the importance of the painting from Czech Village locals.
“We decided to save it because of the history of Sykora, and we found an expert in Scott Takes,” Nanke said.
Artist Scott Takes looks at the painting he is restoring inside the former Sykora Bakery on Nov. 21, 2025. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
He noted that the painting is above the bar area of a forthcoming restaurant in the former bakery, expected to open next year.
The building was originally constructed in 1900, opening as a saloon called the Dew Drop Inn before it became a bakery in the Czech business district.
Kalous died after an illness at age 45 in 1937, while the country was still in the grips of the Depression. His wife, Anna, died in 1965. Both are buried at Anderson Cemetery in Swisher, Iowa.
Though she was born after her great-grandparents died, Moore remembers hearing her grandparents speaking in Czech as a young girl and taking music lessons in Czech Village, and was happy to hear the painting was being restored.
“I’m ecstatic,” she said. “It’s not just a legend for my family, but for the whole town. It’s part of the history of Cedar Rapids.”
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