One of two climate activists who smeared black paint on a case enclosing Edgar Degas’s sculpture “Little Dancer, Age Fourteen” (1878–1881) at the National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC, in April 2023 has been convicted of federal charges.
Timothy Martin, a 55-year-old architect from North Carolina, was convicted on Monday, April 7, of conspiracy to commit a crime against the United States and for injuring NGA property in violation of a law protecting federally funded buildings. According to the US Attorney’s Office, the act led to $4,000 in damages, though the sculpture was protected by glass and unharmed by the action. The work was removed from view for 10 days.
The activist was originally charged alongside 54-year-old Brooklynite Joanna Smith, who pleaded guilty in December 2023 to “injury to National Gallery of Art property” and received a 60-day prison sentence with 24 months of supervision.
Martin and Smith, both members of the activist group Declare Emergency, targeted the artwork because of its symbolic vulnerability — the likeness of a young girl — and the risks climate change poses to future generations.
“We’re adults, we should be at home working,” Martin stated as he sat in front of the bronze sculpture on April 27, 2023. “I have a job that requires health and safety, but I can’t do my job unless I have a government that looks out for the health and safety of our children.”
Another activist duo from the same organization was sentenced to 18 months and two years in prison in November for “felony destruction of government property” after they dumped red tempera powder on the US Constitution at the National Archives.
Reached via email, Martin told Hyperallergic that his participation was fueled by a message of both love and science.
“I did what I did out of love for my two children and all children of the world who deserve to live in dignity,” Martin said.
When he and Smith were indicted in 2023, prosecutors said each charge could carry five years in prison and fines of up to $240,000.
The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia celebrated the verdict as being in line with President Trump’s executive order “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful,” which emphasizes “protecting our revered monuments.” It’s unclear whether that executive action will impact Martin’s sentencing, which is scheduled for this August.
Though the artwork was protected by a glass case, Kaywin Feldman, director of the NGA, told NPR that she could not “overemphasize how the violent treatment of her protection barrier, repeated slamming, and vibrations, have forever jeopardized her stability.”
A video of the incident, however, shows Martin and Smith gently painting the sculpture’s enclosure with their hands before sitting in front of the artwork.
Court papers said that Martin had allegedly alerted members of the media to cover the event and had concealed paint in plastic water bottles upon entering the museum, which prosecutors argued was evidence of conspiracy.
Martin and Smith used their fingers to paint a home dwarfed by a large wave and a tree on fire. The black paint Martin used, according to a press statement from Declare Emergency, was intended to signify carbon-emitting oil. Smith used red paint, which the group said symbolized the “blood of our children’s future.”