Gerri ChanelCritiques

The copyediting in my hardcover edition is total crap, and the narrative dragged a wee bit in the middle - although I doubt nearly as much as the same point in the actual war felt like it did for those that had to go through it - but otherwise, and excellent book about exactly what it says on the wrapper. Concise, focused, and written to be easily read (if not for the bad copyediting), Chanel does a masterful job at juggling an enormous number of French and German players, and the unbelievable efforts curators, guards and volunteers went through to protect the art of Louvre. The fact that she does this without deviating into politics or resistance efforts that don't directly pertain to the protection and conservation of the art made me appreciate the read even more.

Though I've been to France, I've not been to Paris; I knew, of course, that the Louvre isn't a po-dunk museum, but until I read this book and saw the photos included (alas, all black and white but better than none), I really hadn't comprehended the sheer vastness of their collections. And of course, having been to other world museums, I know that 'art' comprises many different mediums, but when I first imagined the evacuation of the 'art' prior to the outbreak of war in France, my mind's eye thought, of course, 'paintings'. Nevermind the Winged Victory of Samotrace, a sculpture coming in at just around 3.5 tons. And I never considered the paintings that were huge that had to be rolled up on giant oak poles, or Raft of the Medusa, that couldn't be rolled because the artist used bitumen for the black, which never dries but remains sticky. Evacuating that piece alone was a tale. And the Bayeux Tapestry? That tale is one that can only be marvelled at in retrospect; in the moment it must have been ... I don't know, but I image the three meant who lived it got very, very drunk afterwards.

An engaging read.

I actually cried. And cheered. Its pretty rare.

The world is bleak. Read this book.

I know very little about art but found the account of how the Louvre saved its treasures during WWII very interesting. I like the references to what was going on in the war during this time period. The details about the locations of the pieces did get tiring. Includes some period photos.

Throughout the occupation of France, Louvre staff fought to keep priceless treasures out of the hands of Hitler and his henchmen and safeguard the Louvre palace in this suspenseful narrative of the largest evacuation of art and antiques in history.

Having previously read Carolina Hicks' wonderful biography of the Bayeux Tapestry, I had a casual familiarity with the story of the relocation of the French art treasures prior to (and during) World War II. Geri Chanel's "Saving Mona Lisa" is about how Western art's most famous painting -- and its fellow residents of the Louvre (as well as other museums in Paris and throughout France) were moved. And not just for safety reasons; for along with death and destruction, war brings looting, by both individuals and governments. The ancient Egyptian figure, "The Scribe," for example, was "removed" (the polite term) from its home in Cairo to the Louvre by Napoleon. Also, while Germany and France expropriated the lands of the Alsace-Lorraine back and forth between 1871 and 1940, the governments also helped themselves to each other's cultural heritage. C'est la vie.
Ms. Chanel tells this story with amazing detail; imagine being entrusted with the care of Mona Lisa on what turned out to be multiple road trips throughout France -- to the point of having the painting, in its own wood, velvet-lined case, at the side of your bed as you slept (in a 16th-c. chateaux!). From leaky roofs and basements to keeping well-connected "art lovers" (Hermann Goering) and scheming bureaucrats (Himmler, even some Vichy government officials) at bay, Ms. Chanel has rescued a not unimportant slice of history with a skill that her subjects, the administrators, curators and employees of the French museums exhibited during a time of crisis and chaos. Bon travail!!

I had mixed feelings about this book. I love reading about art history and also about World War 2 so I expected to love this book about the efforts to evacuate and hide the Mona Lisa and other Louvre treasures to protect them from Nazi attack.

I admire how much effort the author put into the book, along with all of the details she was able to include. Alas, it was at the expense of readability. She got way too bogged down by details and much of the first half of the book was about logistics. I slogged through that part over the course of months, continually expecting the book to pick up.

Well, pick up it did and I actually enjoyed the second half which focused more on the art staff's interactions with the Nazis as well as how wartime battles etc impacted the ongoing efforts to save the Mona Lisa and other art.

In fact, parts were outstanding, especially the chapter on the role the art staff played in the Resistance.

For people who love art history and/or World War 2 topics, I could recommend this book, keeping in mind the logistics angle. For me, there was way too much emphasis about how the artwork was wrapped, transported etc.

I also would love to have seen a map. That would've been helpful in getting some idea to where the artwork was moving, yet again.

Overall, I'd say it's an interesting book but could've been much better.

I received this book through LTER. Having read "The Monuments Men", I thought this would be a recap of some of the information. However, this was a book I couldn't put down once I started to read it. The history of how the Mona Lisa came to France as well as the issues with artwork during WWI were unknown to me before reading this book.
This is a well researched work covering the planning and devotion of the museum curators in protecting and preserving the artworks of France through a difficult and dangerous time. Trying to outfox the fox from stealing the art treasures was an amazing task and story.
I recommend this book to all history and art lovers.

This is a wonderful look at what a variety of priceless art works went through during a turbulent time. It was just amazing to read about the movements and battles surrounding the curators, and having to deal with the Nazis. After a certain point I was wondering if the German officials had other things to worry about and not whether they could get their hands on certain artworks.

While I appreciate the amount of research that went into writing this book and the notes section at the end, I did not find the narrative itself particularly compelling, and the lack of a good, detailed map seems an omission to me. On the other hand, I was surprised at the number of photos and that they were spread throughout the book at appropriate places, rather than a one-size-fits-all photo section. Thank you for that. And thanks to Early Reviewers for this book.

This was a fascinating and absorbing account of the battle by curators at the Louvre, as well as many others who supported them, to save some of the world's most important art: paintings, drawings, sculptures, tapestries, altar pieces, antiquities, and objets d'art. Thousands of items had to be evacuated from the Louvre and other museums in France during World War II as Germany's invasion began. The items were moved repeatedly through the war as new threats arose, whether from fear of being too close to combat areas, or because of threats of dangerous storage conditions, such as harmful humidity levels, inadequate space or fire prevention resources, and more. The author does an excellent job of telling the stories of many of the individuals involved in the massive effort, including Jacques Jaujard, Van der Kemp, Chamson, Mazauric, Bazin,Huyghe, Wolff Metternich, and Rose Valland, a person many may remember from the book Monuments Men. One truly understands the dangers and problems faced by these individuals in their fight to preserve so much of our history. Far beyond the problems they may have been trained to handle (protecting art from humidity, vandalism, and other issues), they had to deal with inadequate heating, scarce food, and the other terrible conditions of war, as well as battling against the efforts of German leaders who were determined to steal away many of the treasures, as well as renegade soldiers. Many also became involved with the French Resistance, increasing the danger to themselves and the artwork they were charged with protecting. The author writes well and I found that I flew through each chapter. The understanding gained through the author's clear writing style was aided further by the addition of many photographs. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, even those who do not have a strong interest or background in art history. It is a story that is important for everyone to know.

I received a free copy of this book through the LTER in exchange for my honest opinion. I was very much looking forward to reading this book (having enjoyed the "Monuments Men" movie). However, I found this book extremely boring to read. There are only so many times you are willing to read how the dedicated Louvre Staff "opens the traveling case of the Mona Lisa" to check that she is still okay. This book's only redeeming feature is the way it shows the incredible dedication and sacrifices that the Louvre staff showed before, during and after WW II to safeguard these priceless treasures. I think this book is more aimed at readers with a strong interest in Art History.

Well researched account of the saving of French art from Nazi looters during World War II. The curators had to pack and remove the artwork from Paris, and arrange to have them stored in buildings away from the German army and bombings. Good section on what happened to the people after the war, and how they saved to artworks from being looted or destroyed by the German occupiers of France. Peculiar problems of storing artwork included humidity levels, moisture, theft or vandalism from storing the art in remote locations, and dealing with Germans, French resistance fighters, allied troops and local residents were all mostly overcome. A good story. Recommended for French history collections, WWII collections, and art history.

This is a very complicated topic. In a quest to unravel the earliest history of the Louvre and the Mona Lisa, the author starts with the early Middle Ages, and after some dozens of pages I was wondering why we needed to know this ...when Leonardo da Vinci arrived on the scene with the Mona Lisa in his luggage! I had vaguely assumed that it was looted by Napoleon, but here it was given to France by Leonardo himself! Who knew. We then forge on through various historical wars, the French Revolution, and up to the First World War, during each of which the Louvre and its artworks were in peril (but the Mona Lisa did not repose in the Louvre during all this time). Finally arriving in the years of World War II, the artworks of the Louvre and other French museums were whisked away to the countryside at the outset of the war, languished there through most of the Phony War, were returned to Paris, then evacuated again under much less favourable conditions, to chateaux and other sites which frequently proved to be unsuitable, necessitating repeated removals in search of sites not suffering from excess humidity, floods, etc. One does not form a very positive impression of French foresight or their ability to plan. In the midst of coping with the vicissitudes of war and weather, the curators of the Louvre also had to deal with the eagerness of the Vichy government to appease the German occupiers, and high Nazis' appetite for loot, with gifts (unequal "exchanges") of France's artistic patrimony. At this the curators were extremely successful. Their ability to negotiate was unsurpassed (in one case, the curator kept talking for several hours while the Germans had him against a wall at gunpoint, escaping with his life and with the collection intact). It's quite the story, but the author keeps it as clear as humanly possible. Nevertheless, following the plot with events taking place simultaneously in various art caches all over France is sometimes like reading an epic of George R.R. Martin.

One of the very best things about the book, which contributes greatly to its readability, is the arrangement of photographs within the book. Time and again, as soon as a work of art is mentioned in terms that pique the reader's curiosity (what does the Belle Allemande look like?), it's illustrated right there in the text. So are most of the chateaux which hosted paintings and sculpture (why couldn't they get large artworks up the stairway at Chambord? the photo makes it clear at a glance) and details of the transportation and unloading arrangements.

There is also a comprehensive bibliography and index, much to my satisfaction.

Saving Mona Lisa is a fascinating story of how the French protected the famous masterpiece during World War II. It relates in a clear and straightforward style the careful and extraordinary measures taken to save the painting from the onslaught of the Nazi art looters. The story even reaches back to the history of the artwork, before and through World War I, and after World War II. Many illustrations and diagrams, plus a list of the main characters, help to put the facts into context. This book also deals with other famous and valuable artworks, but for further information on this general subject, one can read "The Monuments Men" by Robert Edsel, which became the recent movie with George Clooney.½