1921

Malou was born on October 27, 1921 in Miliana, ALGERIA.

She has a sister, Marie-Joseph, nicknamed Jobic.

While the KERDAVID family traveled a lot, both in France and abroad, following the assignments of Malou’s father, Louis KERDAVID, who was a career military man, Malou and Jobic returned each summer to their home base in CHATEAUNEUF DU FAOU in FINISTÈRE, where their mother, Louise LE DREAU, was from. The two sisters spent time there with their cousins, to whom they were very close.

Later, Malou would meet her nieces there, Anne, Catherine, and Claude, to whom she would be very close throughout her life.

Her father, her mother, and her sister Marie-Joseph

Malou’s nieces: Anne, Claude, and Catherine

Malou would say of this childhood that it was happy, bathed in the affection and attention of her loved ones.

1946

In April 1946, Malou was among the first flight attendants recruited by Air France.

Unfortunately, a few months later, tragedy struck: on September 4, 1946, the Air France DC3 on which she boarded, operating the PARIS-LONDON flight, crashed on takeoff at LE BOURGET. Read the 1946 article – France Soir

She was the only survivor of this horrific air disaster.

On February 14, 1951, she was awarded the aeronautics medal, before receiving the gold medal for civic service on June 7, 1953.

1954

It was on April 12, 1954, that Ladislas KIJNO married Marie Louise KERDAVID, known as MALOU, who would accompany him throughout his life. After their marriage in 1954, the KIJNOs left the Plateau d’Assy and settled in Brittany;

1958

In 1958, Ladislas KIJNO and Malou settled in PARIS, at 12 bis rue du Val de Grâce.

1959

It was during this time that Ladislas KIJNO painted “Homage to Malou” (1959).

1960

In 1960, the KIJNO couple left PARIS for CONDÉ-SUR-VESGRE in the YVELINES.

Of this period in the KIJNOs’ life, Raoul JEAN MOULIN, in his biography published in 1970, writes: “Since June 1960, the KIJNOs have retired outside of PARIS, in the YVELINES, to CONDÉ-SUR-VESGRE, a small town near the forest of Rambouillet, on the edge of a site that housed, in the first half of the 19th century, a Fourierist phalanstery, the Colony, whose associationist system of life and production revived the libertarian memory of the artist’s grandfather. Lad and Malou live in an old house, which was the church rectory and which opens at the back onto a deep, wooded garden, each finding there village and neighborhood habits already experienced in Brittany, in Normandy, and he his daily walks, the obligatory discussions at the café-tobacco shop…”

1974

1974 is an important year, it sees the KIJNOs settle in SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE, in a house in the heart of the city, where KIJNO sets up his studio.

While Lad worked in his studio located on the top floor of the house, Malou spent long hours tending to the garden of which she was very proud, assisted by her faithful gardener, Philippe.

Photo credits: Misha Labruyère

1983

In 1983, Maria ANTUNES entered the service of the KIJNOs, more than a housekeeper, she would become a friend and confidant, accompanying them for nearly 40 years.

2020

It is in her house in SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE that Malou passed away on March 8, 2020.