THE ART SPY. The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland
Book talk by Michelle Young, New York and Paris
June 25, 2025 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
| FreeIn this book talk, author Michelle Young will present WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland (1898–1980), an unlikely heroine who infiltrated the Nazi leadership in Paris during World War II to save the world’s most treasured artworks.
Rose Vallant was a curator at the Jeu de Paume Museum in Paris when the Nazis invaded France, occupied the museum, and began using it as a sorting center for thousands of pieces of stolen art from across Europe. Valland made herself appear as nonthreatening and essential as possible, retaining her position in the museum for years while keeping meticulous secret records of the provenance and destination of every piece of art. Her gathered intelligence enabled the recovery of hundreds of thousands of looted artworks, stashed in the salt mines of Austria and in German castles, by the Monuments Men in the last days of the war and after.
Image above: Book Cover THE ART SPY. The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Vallant by Michelle Young (Harper One, May 13, 2025)
Rose Valland in her 20s. Camille Garapont Family Collection
Hitler on his tour of Paris posing in front of the Eiffel Tower, June 1940. U.S. National Archives, 242-HLB-5073(20)
Young moves from the glittering days of pre-War Paris, home to artistic geniuses of modern culture, including Picasso, Josephine Baker, Coco Chanel, Le Corbusier, and Frida Kahlo, through the tension-riddled cities and resorts of Europe on the eve of war, to the harrowing years of the Nazi occupation of France when brave people such as Valland risked everything to fight monstrous evil.
Based on previously undiscovered historical documents, this detailed portrait of Valland’s bravery and strategic intelligence shows her crucial role in preserving France’s cultural heritage. The story of Valland’s courage and dedication to art and justice is compelling and inspiring.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, accompanied by General Omar N. Bradley, and Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr., inspects art treasures stolen by Germans and hidden in salt mine in Germany, April 1945. U.S. National Archives, 111-SC-204516
Edith Standen (left) and Rose Valland (right) at Wiesbaden Collecting Point, May 11, 1946. National Gallery of Art Archives
Michelle Young is an award-winning journalist, author, and professor whose writing and photography has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Hyperallergic, The Forward, and Narratively. She is a graduate of Harvard College in the History of Art and Architecture and holds a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where she is a Professor of Architecture. She is the founder of the publication Untapped New York. She divides her time between New York City, Paris, and the Berkshires, Massachusetts.
