Climate advocate sentenced to jail for defacing renowned artwork

A climate activist who defaced an exhibit last year at the National Gallery of Art in Washington will spend 60 days in prison.

Joanna Smith, 54, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced on Friday, according to a Justice Department news release.

On April 27, Smith and a fellow protester smeared red and black paint on the case of a 142-year-old wax sculpture by Edgar Degas titled “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen.”

Timothy Martin of North Carolina, who was arrested along with Smith, is scheduled to go to trial on Aug. 26, according to NPR.

Smith pleaded guilty in December to one count of causing injury to a National Gallery of Art exhibit.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson put Smith on 24 months of supervised release and required that she serve 150 hours of community service, 10 hours of which must be spent cleaning graffiti.

Smith also has to repay the cost of cleaning the exhibit, which was estimated at $4,000, and is barred from entering the District of Columbia and all of its museums and monuments for two years.

The DOJ news release said the paint used in the vandalism was concealed in water bottles. Prosecutors said Smith and her ally “had conducted research on the piece and specifically targeted it.”

As the vandalism took place, Smith gave a speech about climate change.

BREAKING VIDEO: Today climate activists at the National Gallery of Art in DC smeared paint onto the stand and glass case of famous sculpture “Little Dancer of Fourteen Years” by Edgar Degas.

They say that human expression is being destroyed by climate change. pic.twitter.com/H1zkXW1mCQ

— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) April 27, 2023

When the vandalism was done, she and her accomplice posed for photos with the paint still on their hands, according to ABC News.

Kaywin Feldman, director of the National Gallery of Art, called the sculpture “one of the most vulnerable and fragile works in our entire collection,” according to NPR.

“I cannot overemphasize how the violent treatment of her protection barrier, repeated slamming, and vibrations, have forever jeopardized her stability,” she said.

“With increased frequency, institutions — overwhelmingly non-profit museums for the public benefit — have suffered collateral damage at the hands of agendas that have nothing to do with museums or the art attacked,” Feldman said.

“The real damage that these acts of vandalism pose must be taken seriously to deter future incidents that continue to threaten our cultural heritage and historic memory,” she said.

As more and more museums face vandalism in the name of climate activism, something needs to be done, Michael Taube wrote in a February column for the National Post.

“These activists demonstrate a complete lack of respect for authority, tradition and public institutions,” Taube said. “This type of behavior shouldn’t be tolerated in decent, law-abiding societies. Hence, there have to be more significant fines and longer jail sentences to discourage others from engaging in further copycat attacks on works of art.”

He wrote that “Western democracies have tolerated the selfish actions and abhorrent behavior of far-left environmentalists for long enough. Let’s bring an end to art vandalism, in order to protect great works of art for future generations.”

Taube said acts of vandalism have proved the need to get tough with vandals.

“Governments also have to establish stronger penalties for these criminal acts. Make no mistake about it: this is more than mere public mischief. These are attempts to desecrate great works of art, even if they’re safely behind protective glass,” he wrote.