Climate activist found guilty of defacing Degas exhibit in National Gallery of Art
Climate activist found guilty of defacing Degas exhibit in National Gallery of Art Timothy Martin, a member of Declare Emergency, a climate activist group known for eye-catching protests, was found guilty of defacing a glass case protecting a timeless Degas sculpture
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Just Stop Oil protesters throw soup at Vincent van Gogh's 'Sunflowers'
Just Stop Oil protesters threw cans of tomato soup on Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" painting at London's National Gallery.
Cody Godwin, Storyful
A member of a climate activist group known for eye-catching attacks on cultural relics was found guilty by a jury of defacing the glass case protecting a priceless sculpture at an art museum in the nation's capital, federal authorities announced on Tuesday.
Timothy Martin smeared red and black paint on a case shielding a nearly 150-year-old sculpture by Edgar Degas, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The French artist's cherished work of impressionism, 'Little Dancer Aged Fourteen,' was not damaged, according to court filings.
'This verdict sends a strong message to the thousands of people who come to D.C. each year to demonstrate and be heard,' said U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. 'Free speech is a constitutional right. But when you take action, such as destroying property like priceless pieces of art, you are crossing a line that no one in this city will condone.'
The case out of Washington, D.C., dates back to the administration of President Joe Biden but comes to a verdict as environmental groups chaff at President Donald Trump's efforts to eliminate climate and environmental regulations pushed under Biden. Trump actions include trying to revive the coal industry and encouraging logging at national forests.
Martin, the 55-year-old who faces a short prison stint and potentially thousands of dollars in fines after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. and injury to a National Gallery of Art exhibit, took issue with the verdict amid what he sees as a worsening climate.
'This is about the extinction of life on earth and they want to make it about painting on a display case,' Martin told USA TODAY about the attack he was behind in April 2023. 'It sounds crazy unless you know how bad things are . . . When the house is burning, you have to go in and wake people up to say, 'Get out, save yourself.''
Martin noted he dilberately smeared washable paint on the display case instead of an actual artwork. He hoped to draw attention to the climate crisis without destroying a piece of history. The sculpture in D.C. is the Degas original known worldwide through bronze casts authorized by the artists' heirs, according to the National Gallery.
The case is the latest involving the activist group Declare Emergency, an organization linked to dumping red powder on the display case housing the U.S. Constitution and defacing a memorial to Black Civil War soldiers in the name of protecting the planet.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson scheduled Martin's sentencing for August, officials said.
Another activist who participated in the protest, Johanna Smith, pleaded guilty in December 2023 to one count of causing injury to a National Gallery of Art exhibit. Jackson sentenced her to 60 days in prison, ordered her to pay a $3,000 fine and pay $4,062 in restitution, prosecutors said.
More: Some climate change protesters turned to vandalism in 2022. Why the chaotic and weird stunts?
More: President Trump signs executive orders aimed at reviving US coal industry
Why Degas' Dancer?
Martin admitted that he deliberately targeted Degas' Little Dancer, a beloved artwork at the National Gallery in Washington.
The work shows a student dancer of the Paris Opera Ballet and dates back to 1881, according to the National Gallery. Degas made the sculpture from beeswax and used clothes and human hair to make the piece.
Degas' finely-worked sculpture is known worldwide through bronze casts authorized by the artists' heirs, according to the National Gallery. But the work housed in downtown D.C. is the original the museum touts in a publication titled "Edgar Degas Only Made One 'Little Dancer.' And It's Ours."
The Dancer was the only the sculpture Degas ever showed publicly but critics panned the work as ugly so he kept out of the public eye in his studio. When his heirs discovered it after his death in 1917, they authorized the making of dozens of bronze casts of the sculpture and it eventually became one of the artist's most iconic works, the National Gallery said.
Martin wasn't prepared to deface history but he felt defacing the glass case represented what he expects warming temperatures will do to life.
'The Little Dancer is a child who represents the children of the world,' said the father of two. 'She's protected so I could apply paint to the case without damaging the sculpture but all the children of the world are not protected because of climate change… We're facing some serious shocks coming.'
Martin and accomplice Johanna Smith applied washable children's paint to the sculpture display case, he said.
Prosecutors said the pair's defacement of the sculpture caused $4,000 in damage and that the display was removed from public view for 10 days.
The pair smuggled the paint into the museum in water bottles and caused $100 in damage to the exhibit, according to a federal indictment. Court filings note the actual sculpture was unharmed.
What is Declare Emergency?
Washington prosecutors' case against Martin is the latest blow against Declare Emergency, a climate activist group that aims to draw attention to the warming climate. The activist group has been around for a few years and has become known for protests blocking roadways but has escalated in recent years to go after priceless cultural relics, a tactic adopted more commonly in Europe.
The biggest case involving the group came last year when activists Donald Zepeda and Jackson Green threw red powder over a display case housing the Constitution at the National Archives. Zepeda was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison and Green was sentenced to 18 months, Washington prosecutors said.
Green was involved in another Declare Emergency protest in Washington last year.
The Utah resident also defaced a memorial to Black Civil War soldiers at the National Gallery of Art, prosecutors said. He was charged with vandalizing the memorial less than two weeks before he poured a fine red powder on the case holding the Constitution.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered both Zepeda and Green to pay $58,600 in restitution for the protest at the Archives. The judge also ordered them to stay out of D.C. and museums nationwide, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
More: Climate activist tries to glue head to 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' painting, 3 arrested
From Mona Lisa to The Scream: Climate protesters deface art in Europe – and now the US
Other climate attacks on artwork
Martin and Smith's demonstration at the National Gallery in 2023 was the first instance of the protest tactics popular in Europe crossing over. Activists overseas have gone after some of the most iconic artworks ever made, including:
The trend took off in May 2022 when a man disguised as a woman threw cake at Leonardo da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa.'
Attacks have got museums worried. Activists "severely underestimate the fragility of these irreplaceable objects," the International Council of Museums said previously in a statement.
Representatives at the National Gallery did not respond to a request for comment.
Protests targeting artworks date back to well before the climate change movement.
In one of the earliest instances, suffragette Mary Richardson used a meat cleaver to slash "The Rokeby Venus" by Diego Velázquez in the London National Gallery in 1914 to protest the arrest of Emmeline Pankhurst, leader of the Women's Social and Political Union.
Martin said such protests – even attacks that leave the actual artwork unscathed – remain relevant 'because everybody loves art and you can talk about the climate in the context of simulated damage.'
When asked about the prospect of going to prison for his climate activism, Martin said:
'This is the stuff I think about all the time. I can't sleep at night and so I'm happy to sacrifice if it helps the cause . . . I'm not doing this to be a martyr but I don't know what else to do.'
Michael Loria is a national reporter on the USA TODAY breaking news desk. Contact him at mloria@usatoday.com, @mchael_mchael or on Signal at (202) 290-4585.
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