A Climate Activist Who Targeted a Degas Sculpture at the National Gallery of Art Is Found Guilty
A climate activist who smeared paint on the glass protecting an Edgar Degas sculpture in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., has been found guilty by a federal jury of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced today that Timothy Martin, 55, of Raleigh, N.C., was also found guilty of injury to a National Gallery of Art exhibit, concerning the April 2023 incident in which he and a fellow activist, with the environmentalist group Declare Emergency, targeted the case and base of Edgar Degas's Little Dancer, Age Fourteen, one of the most famous sculptures in the Western art canon and a major tourist draw for the institution.
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Per the DOJ, Martin and his companion, Johanna Smith, caused more than $4,000 in damage, and forced the exhibit to close from public view for 10 days of repairs. Smith pleaded guilty in December 2023 to one count of causing injury to the gallery's exhibit and was sentenced to 60 days in prison, followed by 24 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $3,000 fine and $4,062 in restitution.
Since taking office, President Trump has escalated consequences for activism that involves bringing awareness to the climate crisis via targeting artworks. A March 2025 directive, titled Executive Order to Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful, issued broad directives to rectify what the Trump administration has deemed issues of crime and aesthetics in the U.S. capital, including the restoration of monuments, removing graffiti from public spaces, and the creation of the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, nominally charged with coordinating 'law enforcement efforts.'
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