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Climate Activist Sentenced For Smearing Paint On Sculpture During Demonstration At DC Gallery

The New Yorker who defaced a famed exhibit inside the National Gallery of Art earlier this year in DC will spend time in prison, but received a lenient sentence, federal authorities announced.

Martin and Smith smeared paint on the case and base of Edgar Degas’ Little Dancer, Age Fourteen, a priceless work of art which has drawn visitors for years to the National Gallery of Art, according to prosecutors.

Martin and Smith smeared paint on the case and base of Edgar Degas’ Little Dancer, Age Fourteen, a priceless work of art which has drawn visitors for years to the National Gallery of Art, according to prosecutors.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons via Metropolitan Museum of Art / Alvesgaspar

Brooklyn native Joanna Smith pleaded guilty late last year to causing thousands of dollars worth of damage to Edgar Degas' "Little Dancer, Age Fourteen" during a targeted attack in May.

On Friday, she was sentenced to 60 days in prison, though she had faced up to five years. 

According to prosecutors, Smith and North Carolina native Timothy Martin did their research and sought to deface the beloved sculpture, which was crafted nearly 150 years ago, as part of their demonstrative statement.

Smith and her co-conspirators specifically traveled to DC with the intent to spread red and black paint on the exhibition, which they snuck into the building inside water bottles.

Prosecutors said that before entering the National Gallery, the demonstrative duo recorded a video statement explaining their intent before taking the bottles out of their bags and smearing paint on the case and base around the exhibit.

While that was happening, Smith "delivered statements telling onlookers why she was undertaking the action as paint dripped from the exhibit onto the surrounding floor." 

Their misguided demonstration forced the National Gallery to remove the sculpture for more than a week and it cost thousands of dollars to repair the damage caused, according to officials.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Berman Jackson ordered Smith to serve 24 months of supervised release, serve 150 hours of community service, of which 10 hours must involve cleaning graffiti, and pay restitution for the damage to the Degas exhibit

Smith is also barred from entering any museum or monument in DC for the next two years.

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