Vali Myers: The Witch of Positano
All images are from my copy of the rare art 1980 book VALI MYERS
Vali Myers was born in 1930 in Sydney, Australia. Her mother, a New Zealander, was a violinist; her father, the son of cattle owners from Queensland, went to sea as a marine officer on the China run.
As a child at a bushschool in the outback she neglected lessons preferring to draw in the back of exercise books visions from her imagination. Self-taught, her very personal technique evolved slowly over the years.
Before leaving Australia for France in 1949 Vali had become leading dancer of the Melbourne Modern Ballet Company.
On arriving in Paris, she became the subject of a book by Dutch photographer Ed van der Elsken Love on the Left Bank. Most of her beautiful black and white drawings were done during this period.
Since 1958, Vali has lived in southern Italy, in the solitude of a great valley by the coast, with a hundred animals. Her time has been dedicated to them, and to her work.
*from back inside cover
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