Tonight, I have been reading a wonderful book called Love on the Left Bank by a Dutch photo-journalist called Ed Van Der Elsken. It is a 2020 hardback facsimile of the first edition which was published in 1956. When I say ‘reading’ I really mean ‘looking at’ because there is very little dialogue, but it is crammed with splendid black and white photographs of the bohemian subterraneans who haunted the Left Bank of Paris in the early 1950’s, a time and place which has always fascinated me. I bought the book because the main protagonist in this story is Vali Myers the mysterious femme fatale heroine of this semi-biographical roman à clef, and I wanted to find out more about her. As you may know, I am a big fan of Patti Smith and first came across the name of Vali Myers in a recent interview with Patti in The Guardian. This is what Patti said about Vali Myers. ‘When I was a young girl, I found pictures of her in a book called Love on the Left Bank. She was one of the early beautiful gypsy beatnik girls. Living in rural south Jersey, I aspired to look like that or be free like that, to go from Parisian Cafe to cafe, writing poetry. I was living in the Chelsea Hotel with actor/playwright Sam Shepard and one day Vali Myers walked in with a baby fox on her shoulder, which matched her wild red hair. I was amazed. Vali had tattoos all over her face, so I asked her if she would give me a tattoo of a small lightning bolt on my knee in honour of Crazy Horse, which she did with a big sewing needle in ink. To this day, it’s on the inside of my left knee, so I think of her every time I look at it.’
My natural curiosity took over, and I wanted to find out more about this exotic foxy lady who I had never heard of, so I googled her name. I found out that Vali was born in Canterbury, Sydney Australia on August 2nd, 1930. She left home at 14 and became famous as an artist, dancer, bohemian and muse. She became the leading dancer for the Melbourne Modern Ballet before moving to post-war Paris aged 19. It wasn’t as romantic as she imagined because she ended up living on the streets of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés Quarter. She would dance for hours in bars for money to get by. It was in this bohemian atmosphere that she and her friends first met Ed van der Elsken. Vali was beat before beatniks and hip before hippies. She was decades ahead of her time. With her looks and fashion sense she was like a forerunner of the Punks and Goths. She mixed with writers such as Jean Paul Sartre, Jean Genet and Tennessee Williams who based the character of Carol in his play Orpheus Descending on her.
She became hooked on opium and would smoke it late at night with Jean Cocteau. Other acquaintances included Salvador Dalí and Django Reinhardt. Her artwork came to the attention of George Plimpton, editor of The Paris Review, who publicised her in his magazine, and bought many of her early works. Vali married Rudi Rappold, an Austrian from Vienna, and in an attempt to cure her addictions moved to Positano in Southern Italy. The marriage didn’t work out, but in 1971 she met Italian artist Gianni Menichetti who moved in and together they developed the property into a successful wildlife sanctuary. Animals, especially owls, ravens and foxes were always a great source of inspiration for her pen & ink drawings and watercolour paintings. At Positano she had many famous visitors such as Marianne Faithfull and Donovan. He was so captivated by Vali that he flew her to London to dance on stage at the Royal Albert Hall to his song The Summer Day Reflection Song which is in the 1968 film Dope.
Her art fetched high prices which is why she made frequent trips to New York and stayed in the Chelsea Hotel. Her legend grew when American film-makers Sheldon Rochlin and Flame Schon made a documentary called Vali: The Witch of Positano which became a cult classic in America. Mick Jagger bought several of her works. Due to ill health she returned to Melbourne in 1993 after being away from Australia for 44 years and opened a studio in the Nicholas Building; only returning to Positano occasionally. Vali Myers died in Melbourne on 12 February 2003 shortly after being diagnosed with cancer at the age of 72. Hers was certainly a life lived. Her whole life was a work of art. Her positive attitude is shown by what Vali said to a newspaper only a month before she died,
‘I've had 72 absolutely flaming years. It [the illness] doesn't bother me at all, because, you know, love, when you've lived like I have, you've done it all. I put all my effort into living; any dope can drop dead. I'm in the hospital now, and I guess I'll kick the bucket here. Every beetle does it, every bird, everybody. You come into the world and then you go’.
PS: Last night I found a video on YouTube of Beeswing by Richard Thompson which is made of photos of Vali and her art. I think it is great. I have shared it below if you want to see it.
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