A museum has dropped a lawsuit that sought to strip Fisk University of a 101-piece art collection after a lengthy litigation stemming from Fisk’s plan to sell two paintings to raise money, The Tennessean, in Nashville, reported today.

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, which represents the estate of the painter, who donated the art to Fisk, made the move a day after a judge refused to allow a settlement deal between the college and the museum that would have ended the lawsuit. Under the agreement, the museum would have owned the collection’s signature painting, Ms. O’Keeffe’s “Radiator Building — Night, New York,” and Fisk would have received $7.5-million and the chance to display the painting for a short time every four years.

“It would be an understatement to say we’re happy,” said Hazel O’Leary, Fisk’s president.

Now that the lawsuit has been dropped, the newspaper reported, the financially struggling Fisk is in a better position to consider an informal offer from the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, in Arkansas, that would pay Fisk $30-million for a 50-percent interest in the collection. The artwork would then be on display half a year at Fisk and half a year at the Arkansas museum. —Audrey Williams June