The Art Front

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.

Rose Valland (1898–1980) was a French art historian and museum curator best known for her role in documenting and safeguarding artworks looted by the Nazis during World War II. Valland worked at the Jeu de Paume Museum in Nazi-occupied Paris, where she secretly documented the theft of thousands of artworks. Her meticulous records helped recover thousands of artworks after the war. As a French Monuments Woman after the war, her contributions were instrumental in the Allied efforts to return looted art to its rightful owners. 

Robert M. Edsel is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of four nonfiction books including Rescuing da Vinci, Saving Italy, and The Monuments Men (also with Bret Witter), which served as the basis for Academy Award recipient George Clooney’s 2014 film. Mr. Edsel has been honored with the Texas Medal of Arts; the President’s Call to Service Award; the Hope for Humanity Award, presented by the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum; and the National Archives Foundation's Records of Achievement Award. In 2022, the United States Army and the Smithsonian Institution made Mr. Edsel an honorary graduate of the first Army Monuments Officer Training Program, an idea for which Mr. Edsel advocated for nearly twenty years. Mr. Edsel is also the Founder and Chairman of the Monuments Men and Women Foundation, recipient of theNational Humanities Medal, awarded by President George W. Bush.

The Monuments Men and Women Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to raising global awareness about the importance of respecting and preserving the world’s shared cultural heritage. In addition to honoring the service of these wartime heroes, from fourteen nations, who served as Monuments Men and Women during World War II, the Foundation continues their mission by locating some of the hundreds of thousands of still missing works of art and cultural objects and returning them to their rightful owners. Working with military veterans, their family members, and others, the Foundation uses its super partes role to act on behalf of the work of art or cultural object in question, without favoritism or agenda.

For its work honoring the historic achievements of the Monuments Men and Women, the Foundation has received numerous awards including the National Humanities Medal, the highest honor in the United States for work in the humanities, which was presented by President George W. Bush at a White House ceremony in 2007.