The woman who scratched and punched a $30 million painting by Clyfford Still at a downtown Denver museum in December will serve two years on “mental-health probation” and get treatment for alcohol abuse, the Denver District Attorney’s Office said Thursday.
Carmen Lucette Tisch, 37, pleaded guilty on May 17 to felony criminal mischief. A hearing will be scheduled later to determine restitution for the $10,000 in damage she inflicted on the painting — “1957-J-No. 2” — at the Clyfford Still Museum.
Witnesses said she appeared to be drunk when she walked into the wall-size painting and began to scratch, hit and lean against the painting, before sliding down the wall.
She urinated on herself, but the urine did not reach the painting, prosecutors said in January.
The incident happened less than two weeks after an armed robbery charge against Tisch was dropped in Glendale. Her record also shows she pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol in Lakewood in 2008.
The museum had been open about six weeks at the time of the attack.
The Clyfford Still Museum houses a 60-year collection from the North Dakota-born abstract-expressionist, who died in 1980.
His widow donated the collection to Denver on the condition that a museum would be built.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
