The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled that it will not hear an appeal of a decision by the Court of Appeals which allows Fisk University to share its Alfred C. Stieglitz Art Collection with the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. Fisk, a historically Black educational institution in Nashville, had come up with a plan where the museum would pay the university $30 million for the right to exhibit the collection for six months of each year. The courts had originally held up the deal because Georgia O’Keeffe, who donated the art collection, which includes many of her works, to the university, stipulated that the art could not be sold. Fisk University maintained that it needed to generate funds from this valuable asset to remain financially viable.
After a legal battle that has lasted nearly eight years, it appears that Fisk can now proceed with the deal, although certain administrative matters concerning the maintenance and exhibition of the collection need to be worked out.
