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Member Book Club—The Art Spy with Author Michelle Young
Member Lecture and Book Club events are available exclusively to Museum Members. Join today!
Welcome author and journalist Michelle Young for a look at her book The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland.
In her book, Young tells the story of Rose Valland, a quiet museum curator who became an unlikely spy, risking her life to document the systematic looting of Europe’s greatest masterpieces. Working from inside the Jeu de Paume in Nazi-occupied Paris, Valland secretly tracked the movement of stolen art, recording its destinations and relaying critical intelligence to the French Resistance—all while under constant threat of discovery.
Join Young as she traces Valland’s covert work, showing how her records helped expose Nazi art trafficking and guided postwar recovery efforts.
Michelle Young will be available to sign books immediately following the lecture.
Speaker Information
Michelle Young is an award-winning, bestselling author and journalist. She is the author of The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland, which was named a Best Book of 2025 by the New York Public Library, Library Journal, Indigo, and Hyperallergic, and was a 2026 Massachusetts Book Awards Honoree.
Book Selection
When Nazi forces occupy Paris and transform the Jeu de Paume museum into a central clearinghouse for stolen art, quiet and overlooked staff member Rose Valland begins a treacherous secret double life. Spying directly under the noses of high-ranking Nazi officers, she meticulously tracks thousands of looted masterpieces—from Picasso to Rembrandt—at immense personal risk to ensure their postwar recovery. Why was saving artwork so crucial to preserving human identity during wartime, and how does quiet, bureaucratic resistance compare to overt action? Also, how does Rose’s meticulous tracking shape the ongoing debates today around stolen art and returning cultural artifacts to their rightful owners?
Ticket information
Tickets can be reserved in person or through MetroTix using your Member ticket code. All tickets reserved through MetroTix incur a service charge; the service charge is waived for tickets reserved at the Museum. For your ticket code or more information, visit slam.org/MemberLectures.
What is the Member Lecture Series?
Member Lectures are exclusive, live, in-person events held in the Museum’s Farrell Auditorium. Members enjoy a deeper look at the fascinating changes and ongoing scholarship by the Museum’s curators and researchers. Learn more here.