The French artist's wax sculpture of 'La petite danseuse de quatorze ans' was attacked with stripes of red and black paint, the National Gallery of Art reported.
The incident was one of the first of its kind in North America.
The gallery said in a statement to AFP that the work "of inestimable value" was removed from the exhibition halls to assess possible damage.
"We categorically denounce this physical attack on one of our works of art," the gallery said, adding that the FBI was taking part in the investigation.
Activists said the assault is about global warming.
"We need our leaders to take serious action to tell the truth about what is happening to the climate," says an activist in her 50s sitting at the foot of the small statue, her hands covered in the red paint used on the glass and the base of the work of Edgar Degas, in a video published by The Washington Post.
"Today, through nonviolent rebellion, we temporarily defiled a work of art to evoke the very real children whose suffering is certain if deadly fossil fuel companies continue to mine coal, oil and gas from the soil", the group which claimed the action, which called itself Declare Emergency, wrote on Instagram.
It urged President Joe Biden to declare a state of climate emergency.
The group is unknown to the general public. It said one of its activists was detained but released by the authorities shortly afterward.
In the fall of 2022, mainly in Europe, environmental activists stepped up actions targeting works of art to seek more public awareness about global warming.
For example, they glued their hands to a painting by Goya in Madrid, threw tomato soup on Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" in London and smeared mashed potatoes on a masterpiece by Claude Monet in Potsdam, near Berlin.
UN urges Britain to backtrack on new protest laws
Geneva (AFP) April 27, 2023 -
UN human rights chief Volker Turk on Thursday urged Britain to scrap its incoming public order laws aimed at tackling disruptive protests, saying they imposed serious and disproportionate restrictions.
The Public Order Bill was passed by the British parliament late Wednesday and now awaits being signed into law by King Charles III.
The law aims to combat the disruptive protests and guerrilla tactics employed by climate activist groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil, which have included blocking roads, to the increasing annoyance of motorists.
Turk said the legislation was deeply troubling and incompatible with Britain's international human rights obligations regarding people's rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.
"This new law imposes serious and undue restrictions on these rights that are neither necessary nor proportionate," the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
"This law is wholly unnecessary as UK police already have the powers to act against violent and disruptive demonstrations."
"It is especially worrying that the law expands the powers of the police to stop and search individuals, including without suspicion... and imposes unnecessary and disproportionate criminal sanctions on people organising or taking part in peaceful protests," he added.
Turk said the law could see individuals banned from being in certain places at particular times and could lead to them being monitored electronically.
"The grave risk here is that these orders pre-emptively limit someone's future legitimate exercise of their rights," he said.
Turk voiced concern that the law seemed to target peaceful demonstrations by climate activists.
"Governments should be protecting and facilitating peaceful protests on such existential topics, not hindering and blocking them," he said.
"I call on the UK government to reverse this legislation as soon as feasible."
Just Stop Oil protesters caused gridlock in central London on Monday by blocking roads for more than three hours.
Extinction Rebellion -- whose members have previously blocked roads and glued themselves to objects -- have said they will move away from disruptive demonstration methods in Britain.
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