The Art Front: The Defense of French Collections 1939-1945

Monuments Woman Rose Valland, one of the great heroines of the arts during World War II, risked her life to track the Nazi looting of art in France. Her story has inspired films like The Train and The Monuments Men. But this is her story, told in her own words. The Art Front: The Defense of French Collections 1939–1945 presents Valland’s memoir in English for the first time. Originally published in French in 1961, it recounts her work at the Jeu de Paume Museum in Nazi-occupied Paris, where she secretly documented the theft of thousands of artworks.

A project of the Monuments Men and Women Foundation—a nonprofit organization that is a leader in the field of art restitution and preservation, as well as a National Humanities Medal recipient for its work in the humanities—The Art Front is a faithful translation of Rose Valland's original edition, overcoming the challenges of translation and distribution Valland faced during her lifetime in making her book available to an English-speaking audience. This edition also offers a modern perspective, enabling readers to fully appreciate the context of Valland’s risks and triumphs. The book includes over 100 photographs, replacing the original black-and-white images with color reproductions where available. It provides an insightful look at Valland’s heroic efforts and the cultural preservation she championed during the war.