Join us Friday, April 9 at 5:30 p.m. for a Legacy Lecture by author and journalist Michelle Young about her book The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland. A book signing and reception will follow the presentation.
How did a quiet museum curator outwit the Nazis’ art thieves?
In occupied Paris, the Jeu de Paume became the center of the Nazis’ vast campaign to seize art from Jewish collectors and institutions. Working inside the museum, curator Rose Valland quietly recorded the works passing through its rooms, the officials who selected them, and the destinations of outgoing shipments. She concealed her knowledge of German, passed intelligence to the Resistance, and helped prevent a final trainload of masterpieces from leaving France as liberation approached.
In The Art Spy, Michelle Young reconstructs Valland’s hidden war from newly uncovered documents and family archives. She interweaves Valland’s espionage with the story of Jewish art dealer Paul Rosenberg and his son Alexandre, whose family lost its gallery, home, citizenship, and collection to Nazi persecution. After the liberation, Valland’s records guided Allied officers searching for stolen cultural property across Germany, and she continued the work of restitution for years afterward. Her story reveals that victory required more than defeating armies. The forces George C. Marshall helped build also inherited the responsibility of recovering what conquest had taken and restoring Europe’s cultural inheritance to its rightful owners.
How can I attend?
The event is free to the public, but reservations are required. To reserve a seat, or for more information about the event, contact [email protected] or call 540.463.7103, ext. 138.
How can I watch from home?
The presentation will also be livestreamed on the Marshall Foundation YouTube channel (https://bit.ly/2Or0E8D) simultaneously. Viewers of the stream are encouraged to write questions using the live video chat (to the lower right of the video) or via email at [email protected]. Chat will be monitored for abusive comments.
Who is Michelle Young?
Michelle Young is an award-winning author and journalist whose work focuses on overlooked histories, architecture, cities, and lost and looted art. The Art Spy was named a Best Book of 2025 by the New York Public Library, Library Journal, Hyperallergic, and Indigo. She is the founder of Untapped New York and the author of several books about the hidden history of New York City. A graduate of Harvard College in History of Art and Architecture, she holds a master’s degree in urban planning from Columbia University, where she is an adjunct professor of architecture. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, Town & Country, Hyperallergic, The Forward, and other publications.
Related content
Explore art and resistance in occupied France in Matisse at War; read how librarians, soldiers, and the Monuments Men recovered and restituted cultural materials stolen by the Nazis in Information Hunters; and see how one American soldier documented destruction, reconstruction, and the revival of European cultural life in “Marshall Plan Art.”
The George C. Marshall Foundation Legacy Series is sponsored by:
Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation; Edward Jones; CornerStone Bank; Lexington Sunrise Rotary Club; Raymond James; and Mr. Ted Judt