Defacement (vandalism)

This article is about the defacement of physical objects. For other uses, see Defacement (disambiguation).

File:People defacing the Golconda walls.jpg

People defacing the walls of the Golconda Fort in Hyderabad, India

Defacement is a type of vandalism that involves damaging the appearance or surface of something. The object of damage may be architecture, books, paintings, sculpture or other forms of art.

Examples of defacement include:

• Marking or removing the part of an object (especially images, be they on the page, in illustrative art or as a sculpture) designed to hold the viewers' attention
• Scoring a book cover with a blade
• Splashing paint over a painting in a gallery
• Smashing the nose of a sculpted bust
• Altering the content of web sites and publicly editable repositories to include nonsensical or whimsical references.

Iconoclasm led to the defacement of many religious artworks.

See also

• Vandalism of art
• Website defacement