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March 07, 2008

Fisk U. Does Not Have to Forfeit Art Collection to Museum, Judge Rules

A judge in Tennessee has ruled that Fisk University does not have to hand over a collection of art, donated by the artist Georgia O’Keeffe, even though the institution violated the terms of the gift by attempting to sell the works, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The financially shaky university has tried for years to sell the valuable artworks, most recently striking a partial-ownership sale with the Crystal Bridges Museum, in Arkansas, for $30-million. The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, which is in charge of the late artist’s estate, has successfully blocked those efforts and argued that it should take possession of the collection because the Crystal Bridges deal violated the gift’s conditions.

The museum says that Ms. O’Keeffe made the art donation with the conditions that the collection remain intact and that the pieces should be displayed. The judge ruled that Fisk can keep the artworks as long as they are taken out of storage and put on display, and the university says it has raised enough money to do so.

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