Wicked But Virtuous: My Life
Australian History Memoir Biography Art History Cultural Studies Women's Studies Modern Art
“Wicked But Virtuous: My Life” is the exuberant, out-of-print 2000 first-edition memoir of Mirka Mora, the French-born doyenne who ignited Australia’s post-war avant-garde art scene. Written in her unmistakable voice—by turns playful, defiant and tender—the book charts her escape from wartime Europe, her arrival in 1950s Melbourne, and the wild years when she and her husband Georges turned their little café into the city’s creative epicentre. Along the way readers meet John and Sunday Reed, Sidney Nolan and the Heide circle, while Mirka recounts how she parlayed a childhood talent for drawing into a career of monumental public murals, soft-sculpture dolls and the richly symbolic, folk-tinged paintings now held by every major Australian gallery. The text is lavishly illustrated with her own sketches, family photographs and colour plates of key works, making the hardcover volume itself an art object to display.
Collectors prize this vintage hardcover for three reasons: it is the only full-length autobiography Mora ever produced, the first printing vanished quickly, and copies in “very good” condition—clean pages, tight binding, no inscriptions or smoke odour—rarely surface on the secondary market. Because it combines memoir with first-hand art history, the book appeals equally to lovers of Australian modernism, feminist narratives and bohemian cultural studies. Keywords that bring searchers here include “Mirka Mora first edition,” “Australian women artists autobiography,” “Heide circle memoir,” and “illustrated artist biography 2000.” Owning this copy places you among a small cohort who can revisit Mirka’s radiant mosaic of life and art whenever the mood strikes—no museum visit required.
Refer to our eBay listing for a full condition report and many more high-quality pictures of this item.
Buy Now