Journey through the collection: Vali Myers, Australian artist

Written by Toni Burton, Collection Curation & Engagement Manager, and Fiona Jeffery, Description Original Materials Librarian.

Vali Myers (1930-2003) was known as a free-thinking artist and dancer who lived a unique bohemian life that was true to herself. In Vali’s own words she was 'Born foxy, she escaped education and cultural conditioning, she was original, solitary and innocent, like a shooting star in the night sky'. (Diary H2018.442, p. 13)

Aged 19 and a professional dancer, Vali left Melbourne for Paris to forge an independent life and escape the traditional conventions of domesticity. Her life in Post-war Paris was not easy. Vali spent three years living on the streets of the Saint Germain des Pres quarter of the Left Bank and danced in the Paris nightclubs. She mixed with many well known figures including Jean Genet, Jean Paul Sartre and Django Reinhardt. Her international career was established through photographs taken by Dutch photographer Ed van der Elsken for his photo-novel about bohemian life Love on the left bank (1956) and George Plimpton, the American editor of the literary magazine Paris Review (1958) who wrote about her life and reproduced her black and white drawings.

Vali left the city to travel throughout Europe and eventually settled in the remote Italian valley of Il Porto. She made her home there for forty years living in an abandoned one room domed pavilion in a rugged and isolated ravine above the seaside town of Positano. She lived there in semi-isolation with Rudi Rappold, and later Gianni Menichetti, who came to the valley in 1971. Their home provided a sanctuary for over 100 animals and Vali fought hard to keep it as a pristine refuge establishing the Il Porto Wildlife Oasis. The environment of Il Porto and the animals that she cared for, including her beloved pet fox, became her greatest inspiration, featuring in almost all of her drawings.

When not living in semi-isolation in her Italian home, Vali travelled regularly to the famously bohemian Chelsea Hotel in New York to sell her highly detailed drawings. She cut a striking figure with her face adorned with distinctive tattoos and she was feted by the rich and famous of the art and music worlds. Considered a muse to many, she was a friend of Jean Cocteau, written about by Tennessee Williams, praised by Salvador Dali and was an inspiration and friend to Patti Smith, Donovan, Debbie Harry and Marianne Faithfull. Vali established an international career and reputation during the 43 years she was living in Italy and New York.

Vali returned to Melbourne in 1993 and established her studio-gallery in the iconic Nicholas Building overlooking Swanston Street. The last years of Vali’s life were spent between Positano and Melbourne before she passed away in 2003.

As well as her meticulously detailed original drawings, she also kept visual diaries from the mid 1950s to 2003. Each of these is a creative work, with Vali’s intricate handwriting, interspersed with cut-out pictures, photographs, magazine clippings and sketches.

In 2018 the Vali Myers Art Gallery Trust donated Vali’s archive of drawings, visual diaries, and personal effects to State Library Victoria. As well as her artworks, the Archive includes photographs, posters, paintboxes and art materials, jewellery and cosmetics, books and videos, personal papers and her brass bed. This gift to the State Library honoured her final wish to bequeath her life’s work to the people of Victoria.

The Library is currently undertaking the rehousing, cataloguing and digitisation to ensure that this collection is preserved and made accessible to researchers now and in the future.

Explore Vali Myers in our catalogue.